EDITORIAL: Abuse of the elderly

For 17 years now, Masao Uchida, 72, has been caring for his wife, Yoshiko, 72, at their home in Kawasaki. Yoshiko developed dementia in her mid-50s. As her disease advanced, she became violent and started wandering. She often threw dishes out of the cupboard.

"Irritated by her behavior, I struck her on the arm and slapped her on the cheek five times in total," Uchida says. "I once thought I would rather kill her and then myself."

According to a survey by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, there were about 15,000 reported cases of abuse of the elderly in fiscal 2008. They included violence, neglect of care and swindling of money and other properties. The figure increased by more than 10 percent from the previous year.

In many of the cases, the victims were abused by family members living with them. Abuse by sons and husbands accounted for about 60 percent. Behind the trend is the fact that men tend to feel more stress in taking care of old people because they generally have a disinclination for household chores and toilet assistance.

The ministry survey also found a quarter of the people nursing aged family members at home were showing some signs of depression. About 20 percent of the people under 65 and 30 percent of those aged 65 and older had felt like dying. There is no end to cases developing into murder-suicide or murder cases.

No criminal or violent act is pardonable. But the situation demands adequate consideration for caregivers as well as care recipients. This argument is only reinforced by the grim fact that half of the people caring for family members in their 70s are themselves in their 70s or older.

This spring, the public nursing-care insurance program will mark its 10th anniversary. But families with members who need care are still bearing a heavy burden. It is imperative for the government to carefully study the actual conditions and enhance public care services so that old people can continue living in their communities for as long as possible.

But such efforts alone won't solve the problem.

The Nagoya municipal government has created a checklist for preventing abuse of the elderly by family members. The checklist asks such questions as how the family feels about the burden of caring, whether other family members are cooperating, whether the family dislikes using public care services and whether there is a drinking problem involved.

The list is designed to help care mangers and other experts evaluate the risk of abuse. The municipal government uses the data to decide on the necessity of intervention and, if necessary, sets up a team of experts, including lawyers and psychiatrists, to craft specific countermeasures. More local governments should make similar efforts.

Come spring, it will be four years since the law to prevent abuse of elder citizens came into force. Policy efforts should be strengthened, such as increasing local government outlays to protect senior citizens and support their families. At the same time, local communities should pay more attention to possible signs of abuse, such as bruises on elderly people and exhaustion among families taking care of aged members.

Uchida's anger and resentment turned into resignation and acceptance of the situation about 10 years ago, when his wife became mostly bedridden. Uchida came to feel at ease after he got the hang of homemaking and nursing care and met doctors, care workers and other people in a similar situation.

"The risk of abuse is the highest when caregivers feel anxiety because they are uncertain about the future," Uchida observes, looking back on his experiences and wavering emotions.

It is important for someone in the neighborhood to notice a risk and alert government and welfare organizations that can make responses. And the local community should keep watch on the situations. A combination of such efforts is needed to root out abuse of the elderly.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 11