Originally published by the Toronto Sun September 20th 2011. To go to the Toronto Sun website please click here
TORONTO – A seniors’ advocate is disgusted but “not surprised” by an elderly Toronto man’s allegations of horrific abuse at a west-end hospital.
“If this is true, it’s just outrageous,” Susan Eng, vice-president of advocacy for CARP (Canadian Association of Retired Persons), said Tuesday after reading Ron Meredith’s story in the Sun.
“But I’m not particularly surprised,” she said, explaining stories of seniors being abused are sadly all too common.
Eng believes St. Joseph’s, the hospital where Meredith claims security guards roughed him up and shackled him to a bed for seven hours, needs to take a strong stand on the issue.
“I challenge the hospital to come right out and say, ‘This can’t happen under our watch.’ Forget about patient confidentiality,” she said.
Eng pointed out the hospital is publicly funded and has a responsibility to “all patients who walk through their doors.”
“They need to debate out loud what their normative values are and it certainly can’t include this,” she said.
Readers were equally upset by the story and commented in droves on torontosun.com.
“We don’t respect our elders,” wrote one poster. “I hope heads roll here as they should.”
Another reader posted: “Those two goons should be looking for work tomorrow!”
“If they have jobs next week, I will be angry, but not shocked,” wrote yet another. “This is an arrestable offence.”
