Granny thrown out with the garbage

Granny thrown out with the garbage
Thursday Jul 19 17:44 AEST

An Indian couple found an unwell 75 year old woman lying on a garbage dump, apparently thrown out of her home by her daughter and grandsons who did not want to take care of her, the Hindustan Times reported.

"She never complained about her family's behaviour, only rued the fact that she couldn't move without help," Mohanasundari, one of the rescuers, said.
The "semi-paralysed" Palaniappan told her rescuers her youngest daughter had quarrelled with other family members over who should take care of her. The daughter then got her sons to take their grandmother to the dump in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Sons and daughters have traditionally looked after their elderly parents but sociologists say that the pressures of modern life are seeing more elderly people abandoned by their children or sent to old-age homes.

Politicians expressed outrage over Palaniappan's fate and said they would ask officials to take action against the family.
"I have asked the collector (a local official) to take care of the old lady, and take legal action against the children," state Social Welfare Minister Poongothai, who like many in Tamil Nadu goes by one name, was quoted as saying.

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Such an article grabs every one's attention. There are, however, many cases in developed countries where an elderly person may not have been physically thrown out by their adult children; but are deliberately isolated or abandoned. That sort of actions are usually used as a blackmail. " Do as you are told ... or else.."

Please let me know if you , or some one you know, are in this sort of situation. I'll be happy to highlight such cases on this blog.