Australia: Elder abuse reports result in few prosecutions
Twenty-nine cases of elder abuse have been reported to thefederal government in the past seven months. The Department of Health and Ageing on Tuesday said it hadreceived six allegations since November 30, in addition to 23already received since the start of the financial year. “In total, there are seven charges that have been laid,” CarolynScheezt, an assistant secretary in the department said in responseto a question during Senate estimate hearings. “One of these charges relates to the son of a resident and theothers relate to staff.” But the department said it was unable to investigate allegationsof abuse in an Adelaide nursing home because the witnesses hadrefused to provide information. Senior departmental figures slammed two Flinders Universityacademics who published research showing what they claimed waswidespread aged care abuse in Adelaide. The academics cited “disgusting” examples witnessed duringstudent fieldwork, including patients forced to sit in their ownfaeces for long periods of time and a patient with dementia leftupside down, with her naked bottom in the air with faecesvisible. But Ageing Minister Santo Santoro criticised the researchers fortheir failure to immediately report the alleged abuse, whichoccurred four years ago but was not published until earlier thismonth.