The family of a 93-year-old dementia patient in a Sharon, Massachusetts nursing care home secretly installed a hidden video camera in the elderly lady’s room. The family members had suspicions their grandmother was being physically abused despite the senior’s ability to lucidly communicate.
Fox25 News in Boston received a copy of the video footage from the alleged victim’s granddaughter. It shows the lady in her room at the Wingate at Sharon nursing home being assaulted by two nursing care staff members. In the images, it is evident the workers are trying to place the patient into a wheelchair when a verbal and physical altercation occurs.
The patient, identified only as “Dorothy,” tells the staff members to get away from her, as if defending herself. One nursing home aide shows Dorothy their fist and verbally demeans her. The other care aide then grabs Dorothy by the back of her hair and yanks her head back. There are more verbal and physical exchanges between the three.
Dorothy’s granddaughter stated, “she can’t really hurt you. She’s only 98 pounds. She was just trying to defend herself, and the staff members were picking her up and winging her around.” The granddaughter continued to describe the emotional trauma suffered by Dorothy and her family members over this violent incident.
Fox25 Boston reports the two staff members had been fired and were charged with assault and battery on a person over 60 years of age. The care workers were identified as two men aged 49 and 61. Both are before the courts awaiting disposition.
Wingate at Sharon management responded with a comprehensive statement confirming the incident occurred and the two nursing home aides were immediately dismissed. The nursing home public release called the incident “deeply upsetting.” They claimed this was an isolated incident and they “moved quickly to conduct a full investigation and work with authorities.”
Part of Wingate at Sharon’s remedial action was to bring in a counselor for the victim and family members. They also undertook to re-educate their staff on “appropriate and compassionate patient care.” The official statement indicated their staff members “work hard every day to ensure dignity and safety of their residents. Nonetheless, it’s heartbreaking.”
Since this nursing home abuse incident, the granddaughter has been lobbying lawmakers to reconsider an electronic monitoring bill proposed 15 years ago that would permit nursing home residents to have monitoring cameras in their rooms as a safeguard against all forms of nursing home abuse. Read more on the original story.
