At a time when our elderly people are isolated in nursing homes without the protection of family visitors, they face increased risk of abuse as illustrated by a viral video showing exactly that. A 20-year-old man was arrested by Detroit police on Thursday after a video of him beating a nursing home patient went viral.
According to police, the assault occurred at Westwood Nursing Center on the city’s northwest side. The Detroit News reported:
A video had been posted on social media and shared several times by concerned citizens of an incident that allegedly occurred on May 15. Police said both the 75-year-old male victim and the suspect are patients at the nursing home located in the 16500 block of Schaefer.
The victim was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for his non-life threatening injuries, police said.
The suspect was taken into custody at the nursing home and transported to the Detroit Detention Center (DDC) without incident. Detroit Police is still investigating. Ann Arbor Police Department and the Washtenaw County Sheriffs Office helped in the case.
Nursing home horror
James Woods shared the video with his followers and is questioning why the name of the alleged attacker has not been released with any information about who he is or his status as a citizen.
The Detroit Police have indicated there has been an arrest in this atrocity. No name, no picture and no indication of the citizenship status of the arrestee. This video will remain pinned here until they offer that information. What are they hiding? pic.twitter.com/Dzs8QYykIv
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) May 21, 2020
It is unusual for police not to release the name of someone who was arrested and charged with a crime.
Nursing home abuse on the rise
An elder advocacy group in Canada is reporting that the Chinese coronavirus pandemic has led to a ten-fold increase in elder abuse in nursing homes.
The CEO of CanAge, a national seniors advocacy group, says the phones are ringing off the hook with calls from people concerned about seniors and from older people themselves.
“On a usual day, one-in-five older Canadians are subject to elder abuse. We are seeing a tenfold increase in elder abuse across the community,” said Laura Tamblyn-Watts in an interview with CTV News.
Seniors, who are at the greatest risk of contracting COVID-19, are now also at risk of neglect and abuse because families have been kept away for such an extended period of time and are not allowed to visit their elderly relatives in nursing homes. This is just one more terrible consequence of the lockdown that continues to go on with no end in sight in many places and very few answers from those in charge.
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