Abused Seniors Aren't Receiving Protective Services. It's a Human Right.

HOW MUCH ABUSE IS OCCURRING?

1. Reviewing senior abuse media coverage from 2017 it becomes apparent that reports of abuse have more than doubled in the last ten years (approximate numbers in graph 1 above). The percent of reports investigated has almost been cut in half (graph 2 above). 

2. There have been approximately 245 confirmed cases of senior abuse in Nova Scotia in the last seven years. These include physical and sexual assaults, extreme unmanaged pain, deaths from untreated injuries and more.

WHO ARE THE WORST OFFENDERS?

1. Comparing all nursing homes in Nova Scotia with more than 100 beds, residents are approximately 65% more likely to be abused in a for profit nursing home than a not for profit or public nursing home. All of these for profit facilities with more than 100 beds belong to either Shannex or GEM Health. 

2. The top five facilities with the most confirmed abuses over the last seven years are all for profit facilities belong to Shannex or GEM Health:

• Shannex's Arbourstone - 12 cases of abuse
• GEM Health's The Admiral - 10 cases of abuse
• GEM Health's Melville Lodge - 9 cases of abuse
• Shannex's Parkstone - 8 cases of abuse
• GEM Health's The Mira - 8 cases of abuse

3. Tim Houston's Conservative government, knowing this, gave Shannex a sole sourced contract for $120 million to provide more beds.

WHO PROTECTS? ARE THEY EFFECTIVE?

1. Seniors in long term care are entitled to the same protective services that all Canadian citizens have. They aren't receiving this essential human right. 

2. The provincial government is responsible for protecting seniors in nursing homes via the Protection of Persons in Care Act. They provide an investigation service through the Protection of Persons in Care division of Seniors and Long Term Care. It would be impossible to convey how bizarre this 'service' is without experiencing it first hand. They investigate, conduct interviews, review documentation, photos and video. Months go by, preliminary reports are generated, more evidence is examined and then, regardless of a finding of abuse - nothing meaningful happens. There are no consequences to abusing our most vulnerable and loved family members. You read that right. I stand behind the statement 100%. It sounds unbelievable but it's true. I'll provide more detail in a future post. 

In the meantime, as an example of the service's lack of accountability, here are some pages I reviewed from past freedom of information releases of investigation reports. The thirty five reports I reviewed consistently looked like this:

3. It could be argued that seniors in long term care are receiving less protection than your dog receives under the Nova Scotia Animal Protection Act, which explicitly prohibits prolonged, preventable suffering and has higher fines than the Protection of Persons in Care Act. Also fines are actually levied under the Animal Protection Act and have never been levied under the Protection of Persons in Care Act.

I would love to hear from others who have experience with abuse in nursing homes in Nova Scotia. Please email me at carol@fivefires.ca with the subject line Abuse.