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A 34-year-old male staff member of a nursing home in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, has been arrested on suspicion of assault after he choked a 70-year-old female resident, police said Tuesday.
According to police, the incident occurred in June at the Amille Toyonaka Hozumi nursing home, Fuji TV reported. The suspect, who was fired in July, was quoted by police as saying that he got upset at the woman because she kept wandering around at night. Police said he choked her and slapped her. The woman suffered bruises to her head.
Police said they are also investigating reports that the same woman was assaulted twice by the same employee in May.
The nursing home is operated by the same group that runs the nursing home in Kawasaki which is being investigated after three elderly residents fell to their deaths from balconies during a two-month period.
Tetsuya Kikuchi, the president of the company that runs the nursing facilities, said he had apologized to the woman and her family.
Abuse of elderly residents at nursing homes has been widely reported recently since video camera footage surfaced showing male staff beating and verbally berating patients at least two facilities.
© Japan Today
12 Comments
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zones2surf
It takes a special type of temperament to be a helper / orderly / caregiver in a care facility for elderly people, given that the residents may themselves have issues that make their handling a challenge.
However, unfortunately, the number of individuals that have that temperament and that find the pay sufficient may be far fewer than the industry requires, leading to these facilities hiring individuals who may not be well suited for this type of job.
Sadly, I suspect we will see the number of these types of cases rise further in the future, as the number of elderly requiring care facilities grows further.
smithinjapan
Another one! Next it'll be "a mystery" why so many of the elderly residents have taken "mysterious falls" to their deaths, or died within a month's period, etc., with this and/or another staff member suddenly having been "let go for unrelated reasons".
savethegaijin
Sometimes a few bad apples indicates a rotten tree.
TheTiger
Caring for the elderly and terminally ill is very much an art, nurses often show signs of burn out due to lack of social support. Having said that, its no excuse for abusing anyone but the gonverment needs to spend more time and money on looking at better eldery care since we all grow old. Shorter shifts I guess can help but a lot more training is needed for helthcare professionals in order to illiminate abuse.
Disillusioned
Yeah, yeah, yeah, caring for the elderly is a tough job, but if they can't handle it they shouldn't be doing it, right? Japan is a nation of people with built up emotional frustrations because no one ever shows them and, all too often, someone just snaps and it's always the defenseless that cops it!
sensei258
Why the hell does it take so long (sometimes not at all) to arrest people who do this kind of thing?
Mirai Hayashi
WTF! How common is this? This is horrible
TheGodfather
And?... Is no one suggesting foul play?
destinystring
To all of you Judges, Good People and Social Caring Neighbours. Go and visit nursing homes and try to help. Take out somebody in a wheelchair for some fun. Do it twice a year and learn. For 25 years I lived in Japan and had the time of my life. The last five years I lived in a remote area in Fukui and lots of old people came to my old farmhouse. Why ? Because they were lonely and me and my wife were crazy caring gaijins. By the way; Dementia is not an issue in Japan. Like HIV, or suicides or ...... So many sick people I saw locked away because of shame. Later I learnt what happened in Osaka and Kyoto with this old Problem People. Do not believe me !! Try and find out by yourselfes. Look how some of you will end .........................
Davnetcat
I don't understand this, why would they kill their meal-ticket? Don't they understand that they have the job because the elderly are still alive? Without them they have no job.
Aly Rustom
What's going to happen to the elderly as the population continues to age? Expect to see alot more of this in the future.
mtuffizi
people abused elderly are low life (LL), knowing the elderly not capable to defense themselves.
The nursing home is operated by the same group that runs the nursing home in Kawasaki which is being investigated after three elderly residents fell to their deaths from balconies during a two-month period.
why waste time and money to investigate? close those nursing homes from the same group, obviously management failed by accepting LL employee working there.