Hit old people

Is it allowed to hit frail old people? Most people will agree with me that the answer is no and that you abase yourself if you abuse others. But is it allowed to push them a bit when they are demented and try to run away? And is it allowed to sell frail old people a vacuum cleaner when they can not remember anymore that they already have one? Or is the family member that cares for the older person and deals with all financial matters allowed to use some of the savings to have a well deserved holiday, “because mother really wants me to do that”?

As you understand the possible number of border line cases is substantial and will only grow with the increasing number of older people in the world. It is rather easy to abuse older people, even with good intentions. Sometimes informal carers are so overburdened combining care and work, that they become stressed and do things that they later regret. Not everything can be avoided and arranged but raising awareness is the least we can do. The Dutch government now has a television campaign showing an example of an old man whose model boat was broken by some carer losing patience. The old man is comforted by one of the neighbours trying to find out what happened after hearing the noise.

It is good that the topic is also on the international agenda. Last week I attended a symposium on abuse and neglect of older persons in Europe. It was organized by the European Commission together with the United Nations Human Rights Office. I represented the World Health Organisation, as there are obvious links with ageing, health, care workers, mental health and long term care. But it was also useful for my next job in the ministry, where I will work on long term care and the initiative to come to a new UN convention on older persons’ rights.

Different panels discussed abuse and neglect in care institutions, in informal and community based care and of the ways how to protect the human rights for older persons. In the last panel, we discussed whether or not we need this new UN convention on older persons’ rights. There is no agreement yet in New York and I may go in August to the next session of the Open Ended Working Group (the official name of the committee that deals with this matter).

Another important issue was how to monitor and improve quality in long term care. That will also contribute to avoide abuse, at least in more formal settings. The OECD has recently published a big study on the topic, entitled “a good life in old age: monitoring and improving quality in long-term care”. The report is about how countries are addressing the challenge to protect life in dignity by frail older people by developing measures to ensure a high quality of long term care. Quality measurement in long-term care lags behind quality measurement in health care (leave alone in other industries) and at the moment it is difficult to make national and international comparisons.

Hitting old people is not good. It is a pity that there are some online games where you can practice exactly that. Read this: “Your friend wanted to take his girlfriend on a romantic ride through park, but he can barely go anywhere with all those stupid old people getting in the way. So he asked you to ride ahead of them and make sure none of them ruin their romantic date. Your aim is to ride your saqway and hit the elderly people to keep them in front of you.” Not really the message we want to give to the young generation, isn't it? As you can see on the picture below, there are other and much better online games available, where you can even play together with old people.