A family is suing a nursing home near Montreal after they say hidden-camera footage shows their family member with Parkinson’s and dementia falling 45 times over a six-month period.
The family says they became suspicious after noticing several scars on his body one time they visited him.
The patient’s wife talked to the home but was not satisfied with their answers. As a result, she hid a camera in his bedroom to find out what was happening. The video showed multiple cases of alleged neglect and abuse including one time in which a staff member chastised the man rather than help him up when he fell.
“Fall, fall, hurt yourself,” the caregiver can be heard saying. “You’ll go to the hospital. I’m tired of you.”
The family says the video also shows the worker vigorously throwing a helmet that was meant to protect the victim’s head in the event of a fall.
The man’s wife said she still feels shocked and angry, months after she first saw the footage.
“These people have no place in the health community,” she told a news conference. “If they did that to my spouse, they must be doing it to others.”
Two doctors are also named in the suit after the victim’s said they made her husband vulnerable to falls by misdiagnosing his epilepsy, failing to supervise him correctly, and prescribing the wrong medication.
The nursing home said it will begin an investigation into the incident.