Daily Lessons from Life 10 June 2011 - Elderly woman left naked, then flung onto bed

"Fri, Jun 10, 2011 AsiaOne - Elderly woman left naked, then flung onto bed

AN elderly woman resident at an established nursing home in Singapore was shown being mistreated by staff there.

A video clip, apparently captured by a hidden camera inside the room where the elderly woman stayed, showed an elderly woman seated naked in a chair in plain view of the staff and other residents, and with the fan on at full blast. The video was first shown on national television yesterday.

Footage also showed the woman being picked up by two employees of the home, and then flung unceremoniously onto a bed that she was seated next to.

The Straits Times reported that the incident took place at the Nightingale Nursing Home in Braddell Road. The report also said that she had been a resident there for four years.

The shocking clip was submitted to the Ministry of Health (MOH), which later told the home stop taking in new patients on April 12 until further notice.

Since then, Nightingale Group, which runs three nursing homes, said that the staff members involved have been disciplined.

Its spokesman also added that measures which included scheduling more ward rounds and checks on the delivery of patient care standard by management and senior staff have been implemented.

Nightingale Group noted that what had taken place was an isolated case.

But MOH criticised this incident, noting that "this should not have happened", and that there were "significant lapses in the care standards provided to the patient in question".

An MOH spokesperson also said a patient's dignity and respect must be upheld at all times.

It said that it would watch the nursing home closely, and supervise them on how to improve their patient care.

Meanwhile, the victim's son who was interviewed on television said that the family have moved their mother to another nursing home.

A Facebook page has been created to highlight the abuse and to protest against this incident."

This is a very disturbing piece of news. Such unimaginable behaviors by the professional service staffs were supposedly only things Singaporeans read about or see on TV in other places outside Singapore. To have it reported and confirmed that it did occurred in Singapore must have shocked many complacement Singaporeans!

Lessons for me are:

1. who are these staffs and how had they been disciplined? They should be charged for abuses and made to face the Singapore justice system in the courts of laws!;

2. what laws applied to such homes and to the beastly acts committed by these people and what are the responsibilities of the organization that run these homes?;

3. while many pointed the fingers at the foreign staffs, I don't think that the management should be let off the hooks! Of course, it is rather harsh to also punish the management as they are NOT the ones who carried out the atrocity against that hapless guest. Surely unless they can demonstrate the type of supervision and training of the staffs to be professional and take care of the guests properly - with dignity and love - they should be held partly responsible too!

The increased vigliance of supervising and checking by the management after the incident is great. At the same time, continuous education and vigilance against complacency must be ever present. For the behaviors to change, the staffs involved MUST be disciplined severely and be brought to the court of justice. Period.

MOE and the management of the related homes MUST act with tough love! We cannot let this incident passed without using it to warn any future would be offenders. Expect no mercy when you behave callously towards your 'clients'!