Disturbing treatment of very vulnerable people

[bassybill]

This is a national disgrace. And I'm sure it's not just the UK where this sort of stuff happens. But what can we expect when we turn over the care of some of the most vulnerable people in society over to private companies so they can make a profit?

BBC News - Patient abuse caught on film labelled 'torture'

Whose brilliant idea was it to turn mentally ill people into a business commodity, where profits can be maximised by screwing the taxpayer for every penny that can be grabbed and then dumping your victims in some sort of hellhole staffed by otherwise unemployable sociopaths on the minimum wage? This just stinks, at every level from the top down. And I'm sure it ain't just one hospital.

[MEKer]

Absolutely appalling. The staff sho0uld be very glad I am not King cuz I'd have every SOB there hung, drawn and quartered. Yes, I would indeed.
To me, an attack on the most truly innocent among us ranks up there as "most heinous" and deserving of zero, I mean zero, mercy.

[Selta]

[Ziltoid]

Horror stories similar to this sadly happen over here to, most of the time it's the elderly people that are victims of atrocities. It's truly sickening, I can't even understand how someone can do these things.

[bassybill]

Originally Posted by MEKer

Absolutely appalling. The staff sho0uld be very glad I am not King cuz I'd have every SOB there hung, drawn and quartered. Yes, I would indeed.
To me, an attack on the most truly innocent among us ranks up there as "most heinous" and deserving of zero, I mean zero, mercy.

But it's not just the staff who are guilty. It's also the management who just have an eye on the profits to be made and the legislators who took the easiest option and created a system where such things are pretty much inevitable.

[tastybasslines]

Disgraceful and downright cowardly. That abuse mentality to me is a clear sign of psychopathic thought. They treated these patients as cattle.

[TheGrizz]

No, it's not only the UK that has this sort of situation. I'm employed for a company that does similar work here in MA. We don't abuse our clients though. The thought of it makes me sick, but I've heard stories that will make your skin crawl.

State and Federal funding are being cut and State facilities for this segment of our population are shutting down. This has been happening in MA for the last 20 years or so. This change happened because of the fact that the "State School" system failed miserably, and it's "students" were frequently faced with tortures that make this video look like a walk in the park. That is why companies ,like my employer, are stepping in. I'm not entirely sure what would happen if we didn't, but I can assure you it wouldn't be pretty.

Abuse has and will occur at EVERY level of this system, but please don't assume it is common place with private companies. Especially considering what our government has put this segment of our population through.

[Jeff K]

Scum, pure and simple. Many years ago I worked for about a year in a facility that provided total care to multiple-handicapped kids and adults. This was one of the very good places, and the staff was top-notch. But had I witnessed that kind of abuse, somebody would have gotten a major ***-whuppin'. And it wouldn't have been the patients. People like that disgust me. If you don't want to treat people with kindness and dignity, get the **** out of there and work somewhere else.

But somebody above had the right description. They're cowards. They get off on the power of bullying people who they know can't fight back. Disgusting...

[Munjibunga]

I don't think that privatization of such facilities automatically makes them this way. In California in the '50s and '60s, there were state hospitals and mental care facilities that were absolute hell holes.

In my brother's later years (he had Down Syndrome, and died at 55), he lived in private facilities, and we were always satisfied with his care. When he stayed at our house on some weekends I would question him about how he was treated, and he had no complaints. There are caring, compassionate people out there in the private sector who do a fine job of caring for the disabled and mentally challenged.

So I think it's improper to impose a blanket indictment on private care facilities. As for the parents who are so wrought with anguish over their daughter's treatment, where the hell were they? How many times did they drop in on the facility? The girl told them she was being abused, and they brushed her off. They are accomplices in this crime. Family have the ultimate responsibility to see that their relatives are being cared for properly.

[bassybill]

Some good points made above. I would certainly accept that private care facilities can be excellent and state-run ones bad. I guess what made me most angry about this particular instance was that these people were being treated the way described in the news item and somebody, somewhere was making a tidy profit out of it.

[Munjibunga]

Originally Posted by bassybill

Some good points made above. I would certainly accept that private care facilities can be excellent and state-run ones bad. I guess what made me most angry about this particular instance was that these people were being treated the way described in the news item and soimebody, somewhere was making a tidy profit out of it.

I agree. I think prosecution is in order. A little civil action, too.

[BartmanPDX]

Originally Posted by bassybill

But it's not just the staff who are guilty. It's also the management who just have an eye on the profits to be made and the legislators who took the easiest option and created a system where such things are pretty much inevitable.

This.

And as the parent of a girl who will never live independently, I live in mortal fear of the day when I can't care for her any more. I once read that something like 90% of developmentally disabled women are physically and/or sexually abused while in the care of others.

This whole situation is my absolute worst nightmare, and I really hope it doesn't come true. What's really bad in my daughter's situation is that she probably would not be capable of reporting any abuse that she might suffer.

[UncleFluffy]

There's both good and bad out there.

For several years my parents were looking after my grandmother and to allow them to go on vacation they placed her in "respite care" for two weeks. When she came back she had had a wonderful time and asked to move to that particular (privately-owned) place full-time because of all the friends she had made.

They did as she asked, and went to visit 2-3 times a week after that (it was about 2/3 mile walk from their house), which I think is the key. You can't just place someone in a care home and get on with life if they never existed, you do need to check in on a reasonably frequent basis to make sure that everything's going well. As the old saying has it "you can delegate work, but you can't delegate responsibility".

[ShredderMaximus]

Incredibly disgusting behavior, way to go again humanity. but this whole thing reminds me of the Stanford Prison Experiment from 1971, where a Professor set up a mock prison in the basement, and set up students as prisoners and guards. By the end of the 3rd day, "prisoners" were showing massive amounts of mental trauma due to the "guards" outrageous treatment of them. Its very (sickeningly) interesting stuff and I think may have some application here. Basically shows how easily an average person can become corrupted and disassociate with their morals when placed in a seat of power over other individuals under their watch.

Vid:YouTube - ‪Zimbardo shows how most evil comes from hierarchy‬‏

Wiki:Stanford prison experiment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[UncleFluffy]

^ Good point.

The Stanford Prison Experiment and the Milgram Experiment say a lot about humanity, none of it good. Always something all of us need to be reminded of on a regular basis.

[Jimbob Jones]

Normally stuff like this is upsetting, but doesn't get to me...this has got right under my skin though; I couldn't watch the whole video.

I really hope this report causes a change in how things are done, although I'm sure it wont.

[Fassa Albrecht]

I was watching the TV show last night on this. It was shocking, and I left the room after some 20 minutes.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

I watched half of it on the TV last night, I was too disgusted and infuriated to watch the rest of it. I have family that work in the local council, for care support for the eldarly. Some of the stories you here, particularly about the private run homes is just sickening (understatement).

[Mark Latimour]

I thought this was going to be a thread about the moderators in TB OT!

[Ursus Tyrannus]

This is terrifying and despicable to the point of leaving me without the words and phrases to express my sadness and anger over the victimization of the weaker and helpless by the stronger and hateful in this world.