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Australia Nursing Home Scandal

Wed, 03/08/2000 - 1:00am — Karen Stevenson
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- submitted by Kimberley Smith

A nursing home scandal is brewing in Australia. The Riverside Nursing Home was closed this week by the Aged Care Minister and its 57 residents were ordered to moved out. Among other abuses, a dying resident was given a kerosene bath to treat scabies, soiled dressings were left in bathrooms, soiled bandages and towels were washed with the residents' laundry, and urine-stained foam mattress overlays were stored with clean linen. One resident had a broken arm which had been improperly treated, and there were no records to indicate how the arm had gotten broken in the first place.

The closure has stirred up a storm of controversy from observers who say the government knew of the abuses some time back, but didn't move quickly enough to deal with them. Some family members are furious that the residents were subjected to the trauma of a move, rather than having the facility's management replaced. To make things worse, there is no place for the residents to go, since there is a shortage of empty nursing home beds. The transferred residents are staying temporarily in St Vincent's Hospital, and will be subjected to yet another move when a nursing home bed is found for them. In the meantime, about 20 residents have refused to leave the nursing home, and Riverside's management announced their intention to take court action to have the closure overturned.

- submitted by Kimberley Smith

A nursing home scandal is brewing in Australia. The Riverside Nursing Home was closed this week by the Aged Care Minister and its 57 residents were ordered to moved out. Among other abuses, a dying resident was given a kerosene bath to treat scabies, soiled dressings were left in bathrooms, soiled bandages and towels were washed with the residents' laundry, and urine-stained foam mattress overlays were stored with clean linen. One resident had a broken arm which had been improperly treated, and there were no records to indicate how the arm had gotten broken in the first place.

The closure has stirred up a storm of controversy from observers who say the government knew of the abuses some time back, but didn't move quickly enough to deal with them. Some family members are furious that the residents were subjected to the trauma of a move, rather than having the facility's management replaced. To make things worse, there is no place for the residents to go, since there is a shortage of empty nursing home beds. The transferred residents are staying temporarily in St Vincent's Hospital, and will be subjected to yet another move when a nursing home bed is found for them. In the meantime, about 20 residents have refused to leave the nursing home, and Riverside's management announced their intention to take court action to have the closure overturned.