(Photo credit: mokra/SXC)
When your elderly parents move to a nursing home, you hope they’re being treated well during their last years. Unfortunately, sometimes that isn’t the case.
Canada’s population is aging rapidly with the country’s senior population at 4,945,000 people and 7.9 per cent (390,655) of these people live in collective dwellings, which includes nursing homes and hospitals, according to the recent 2011 National Household Survey.
Sadly, in 2011, about 8,500 seniors were the victim of a violent crime, according to Statistics Canada. More than one quarter (27 per cent) of the victimized seniors were maltreated by a stranger.
More than 10,000 elders have suffered from elder abuse, according to an investigation by CTV’s W5. A 2011 investigation done by the Toronto Star says that more than 10 nursing home residents in Ontario are physically and emotionally abused each month. Media reports also suggest that elder abuse in institutions aren’t isolated cases.
Also, there are five murders a year, on average, in care facilities, according to an investigation by CTV’s W5.
In Windsor, a family filed a lawsuit against the Rose Garden Villa long-term care home after an elder with dementia left the home and threw herself into the Detroit River. The claims need to be proven in court, but the family is suing for negligence on the home’s behalf.
This past spring, there was a hidden camera video brought to the media by the son of a resident in a Peterborough long-term care facility showing his mother, an elderly woman with dementia, being mistreated by the facility’s staff. The workers were suspended and later fired, but the police were unable to lay charges. Both the nursing home and the province launched an investigation. The son told CTV that he filed complaints with the home and approached Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long-Term care before giving the video to media.
Just this year, a class action lawsuit detailing cases of elder abuse against the St-Charles Borromée hospital, a long-term care facility, in Montreal was settled. A few hundred victims and families were offered $8.5 million. The lawsuit was launched in 1999 and it was with the help of hidden videos documenting the abuse that pushed the case forward in 2003.
If you suspect a loved one is the victim of elder abuse in a nursing home, we can assist with a negligence claim. The personal injury and accident lawyers at Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers have been handling all types of injuries for over 40 years including injuries from negligent medical workers. We understand the impacts injuries can have on your life and we know how to help you. Call us at 416-920-4242. Set up a free consultation and come talk with us.
Greg Neinstein
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