NCJ Number
122455
Date Published
1987
Length
6 pages
Annotation
An indepth analysis of 56 complaints about the treatment of elderly persons in Ontario (Canada) nursing homes reveals serious abuses that must be remedied.
Abstract
The complaints were received by a voluntary, nonprofit consumer group concerned about the care of nursing home residents. Forty-six percent of the complaints involved an allegation of a serious criminal violation, including assault, theft, and criminal neglect. Legal remedies are failing nursing home residents, and they are not receiving equal protection under the law. Administrative and regulatory mechanisms are failing because the demand for nursing homes exceeds the supply. The abuse of nursing home residents occurs primarily because of understaffing and insufficient and improper training. This is in turn tied to the profit motive for providing nursing home services. The problems of institutional abuse of the elderly can only be addressed when the public and the authorities give up the myth that nursing homes are the answer to rather than part of the problem of elderly abuse. Conditions for the elderly must be monitored as carefully in care institutions as anywhere else in society.