Most of us want the best for our elderly family members.
After they’ve worked hard to raise and support the family, they’ve gathered a wealth of experience under their belts and deserve our respect and love.
Sometimes, in order to get good, professional 24/7 care, the best bet we have is to entrust the safety and well being of our elderly loved ones with nursing homes.
Many nursing homes provide the necessary aid required to seniors all around the world, and there are plenty of fantastic and reputable ones.
But just like with any good thing, there are some dark, shady versions of nursing homes that have relatives of these patients in shock and horror when they find out.
71-year-old Joy Lewis, who is from Nottinghamshire in the United Kingdom, moved into a nursing home when her Alzheimer’s began to require constant attention and care.
She was placed at the Brookside House Care Home by her daughters, and all seemed well for a while.
But after a couple of visits, the daughters began to notice that their mother had bruises peppered across her wrists, her skin covered in bed sores.
Suspicious, the daughters, including Joy’s eldest daughter Teresa and a younger daughter named Kelly, decided to set up a hidden camera next to Joy’s bed that was cleverly disguised as a clock.
At first, the daughters felt guilty about this secret camera set-up, but the resulting recorded footage was shocking, and the video made their hearts break to see.
The footage showed that three different nurses heavily mistreated Joy.
They forcefully grabbed her wrists to drag her out of bed, ignored her when she begged to use the bathroom and even refused to give her food – a dangerous form of abuse because Joy is diabetic.
To see Joy cry and the heartlessness of the nurses was deeply upsetting to the daughters.
Please note this video contains footage that some viewers may find deeply upsetting.
The nurses were taken to court and pleaded guilty, but their jail sentences wound up being suspended and they escaped doing time.
Joy’s daughters weren’t too happy with the verdict, knowing the staff only pleaded guilty because they’d been caught on camera.
Sadly, this is far from the first time a senior individual has been treated in an abusive manner in a nursing home.
Just recently, Hussein Younes, an 89-year-old man who had suffered a stroke, was also rescued from a similar situation.
Hussein had lost a lot of mobility due to his stroke which rendered half his body limp and was staying at a nursing home in Michigan.
His six children visited regularly and started to notice that his skin was developing bruises and cuts of all sorts, and he’d lost a lot of weight very quickly while also experiencing severe anxiety attacks.
Hussein’s children then also set up a hidden camera and found that their father was being called racial slurs and being handled very roughly.
Please note this video contains footage that some viewers may find deeply upsetting.
He was also repeatedly tossed and dragged around, ignored when pressing the call button, and being denied any liquids or water.
One of his son’s, Salim, released the video online to warn people against placing their families in that nursing home.