Hidden camera investigation: Nursing home abuse, violence (Marketplace)

 Announcer: The following program... [ ♪♪ ] David: A special year-long Marketplace investigation. Undercover inside nursing homes. David: Families search for the truth. Woman: My poor mother. David: Has long-term care reached the crisis point? Oh! We're way past that. I think we've been in crisis for years. If this happened in a daycare, that daycare would be shut down in five minutes. David: How to fight for better care on your Marketplace. One of these men will soon be dead. A violent attack inside a nursing home against 84-year-old Meyer Sadoway. It's caught on security video. Video the home, Baycrest, kept hidden from Meyer's family. It's shocking. It's a horror movie. David: Diane Miles and Frances Sadoway are his sisters. You had a phone call? I got a phone call. David: And what did they say? That Meyer had two falls. David: It would take months after the attack, after Meyer's death, for his sisters to see the video and learn the truth. I started crying hysterically. And I thought, I can't believe it. They said they can explain everything. -That's right. -They'll explain it. So I said there's nothing to explain, it's very clear what happened between Meyer and this resident, how Meyer ended up dead. David: What happened to Meyer is not isolated in Ontario. It's why we're heading inside nursing homes. Because violence is on the rise. Resident assaults have doubled in just six years, from four a day to now almost nine. Woman: This is the lounge. David: A shocking increase and we want to know why so we're visiting homes with some of the highest reported rates of abuse and neglect. David: We arrive in time to rescue this woman. I'm going to give her trouble.

David: Her wheelchair hooked on a flower pot. Hi, guys. David: It's -18 and that woman, that resident of a long-term care facility, is stuck outside. Oh, my God. David: Miranda Ferrier worked in long-term care for seven years. We have no idea how long she was out there before we found her. There's no excuse for that. David: Now she runs an association for 31,000 personal support workers. Did you see how they jumped up? When you guys went in there and said there's someone outside who needs help? Oh, oops.

David: Oops can go bad when it's -18. Oops can go bad very quickly. David: At a different nursing home in London, Ontario, we overhear workers warn that care is suffering. David: No time for proper baths. We don't have time in the day to wash them properly. David: How often does that happen in the long-term-- ? Every single day. And no, I'm not kidding. Every single day. Because they don't have the time. David: And why don't they have the time? Because there's not enough people on the floor, there's not enough PSWs on the floor. David: No time to check on residents. David: Incredibly, these care givers aren't just griping. They're complaining to a visiting government inspector. David: But the inspector says she's powerless. David: And that is legal because no province has set a minimum ratio of care givers to residents, the way there is for other vulnerable populations like daycares. Which I don't think is very fair.

These people built the society we live in today. And now they need us more than ever. And we're failing them. We are failing them in a big, big way. David: Miranda says understaffing is a clear factor in rising abuse and neglect. When we're talking about putting more care into the system we need to talk about more scrubs on the floor. How many staff do you have? We need to talk ratios.

I truly believe that is the answer to so many of our problems. David: Problems documented in thousands of government inspection reports. A resident dragging another resident who was screaming. Residents who punch, kick, and scratch. And one who died after being struck by another elderly resident. Woman: They have the three meal services and then the snack carts in between. David: Back on hidden camera, we want to hear what homes are telling families about staffing on official tours. In my experience when people have gone into long term care facilities, and they ask, "What is the minimum ratio?" they say, "1 to 8." But that's not the truth. David: The real story? Not one province has set a minimum. -David: There's no rule. -No, there's no rule.

-David: No law. -No law. -David: No requirement. -Nope. David: But we're hearing a different story from some care home administrators. David: That isn't true. There is no allotment. No minimums. But we hear it again. ..and there's times that we exceed the minimum requirement. David: So what gives? Well, I mean, what are they going to say to a family that's coming in on a tour? Think about that. -They're there to sell. -David: Well, don't lie. Well, but they're there to sell. There is no ministry standard. David: Do you think the current staffing levels in Ontario long-term care are sufficient? Absolutely not.

David: Lawyer and elder advocate Jane Meadus says nursing homes aren't staffed to deal with the changing profile of the average resident. We have a much older and sicker and frailer population, so you're getting more people who are acting out and have these behaviours. David: Is there a direct line for you between the higher number of abuse incidents and people with dementia? Absolutely, I think that that's a huge number of the people that are acting out and having these behaviours. David: Homes used to manage aggression with drugs. Many residents with dementia were given powerful anti-psychotics. About a quarter of all residents are given anti-psychotic drugs, and they may not all really need them. She couldn't walk and a lot of times she couldn't talk. What we are now doing is drugging our senior population into submission. David: There was push back and anti-psychotic use dropped by a third. Seems like good news. But what happened? We hired statisticians to dig deep in the data, and they confirm that as anti-psychotic drug use went down, abuse in nursing homes has gone up.

Doesn't necessarily mean one caused the other, but without extra staff to deal with the aggressive behaviour, reducing drug use may have had unintended consequences. People like Meyer face that violence. He tried to block a larger man, a wanderer with dementia, from entering his room and was attacked. When staff do react, they lead the aggressor away, but there's no one to help Meyer. He struggles... and falls, trying to escape. His hip is broken that night. He dies four days after the attack. -Meyer must have been afraid. And he was trying to move himself to get up, and he was having difficulty getting up and they just walked away.

David: It's been five years since Diane and Frances lost their brother. Frances: He enjoyed the fresh air and seeing other people and moving around. David: There was no autopsy, but his family connects the violence to his unexpected death. We were told it's going to be specially-trained staff who have special training for these-- for the behaviours of these residents. David: We asked Baycrest to explain. They won't talk about what happened to Meyer Sadoway, but do tell us no amount of care planning or staffing can prevent all altercations. Miranda Ferrier is stunned by Meyer's death. But not surprised. That kind of thing is happening more, -a lot more. -All the time. All the time. ALL the time. We need more accountability and oversight. That's what we need. David: The shocking video. I literally collapsed. I observed my grandfather being physically punched in the face 11 times.

David: What is your government doing to try to stop and reduce violence in long-term care homes? Well, I do believe that we've made important improvements. [ ♪♪ ] David: Crying out for care on your Marketplace. [ ♪♪ ] David: The video is shocking. An elderly resident of a care home being punched by the very person meant to look after him. I literally collapsed. It was the most gut-wrenching thing I have ever gone through in my entire life. My grandfather was my hero growing up. His background is in law enforcement and so he was very stern, he was a disciplinarian. He was a source of comfort, stability for our family.

David: For five years, Daniel Nessrallah has watched George Karam's slow slide into dementia. It is one of the most difficult decisions and experiences you could ever undertake as a family. You have a loved one, you want to provide the comfort and care for them as best as possible. David: But Daniel worried there was harm instead of care at Ottawa's Garry J. Armstrong long-term care home. David: What prompted you to put a camera in your grandfather's room? After a series of incidents where my grandfather suffered numerous cuts, bruises, and lesions to his head, his arms, his person. David: The camera is visible to anyone in the room. If something like that can happen with a camera in the room that's known to staff, what else are we missing in places where there aren't cameras? It's really scary to think. David: Miranda Ferrier worked as a PSW, a personal support worker, and now represents Ontario's PSWs. What I always say to people is imagine being that resident in that bed.

You're confused, you're elderly, you don't know what's going on. And there's this person that's jerking you around to do your care. Wouldn't you fight as well? If he's so combative what you do is you cover him, you make sure he's safe, his dignity is intact, and you leave the room. David: The worker on the video was fired, charged and pled guilty to assault. Our year-long analysis shows this wasn't isolated. Reported incidents inside Ontario homes between staff and residents went from about 900 in 2011 up to almost 2200 in 2016. A jump of almost 150 per cent. And abuse can take many forms. David: On hidden camera, we hear stories of neglect. David: This resident has asked us to hide her identity because she's worried staff will punish her for speaking out. Daniel: These aren't isolated incidents, it's systemic, it's widespread, and yes, as the population continues to age, as the baby boomers are going to be entering long-term care in droves in the next 20 years, this is the foremost concern for Canadian society right now.

David: Daniel is a lawyer and in the wake of his own grandfather's abuse, he's become an advocate for elderly residents in care. This is mom when she worked at the Chateau Laurier. This is her in the back. She was a-- what was a switchboard operator back then. David: People like Diana Pepin's mother. Diana: Mom is now turned 86 years old. Had she not had a head trauma, she'd be doing 5k a day, power walking. David: She now lives in another city-run Ottawa home. Diana: She gave everything she had, worked so hard, and should have had a really nice end to her life. David: But a car accident leaves her with permanent injuries. Diana: 2014, my father found it became too difficult. I never wanted her...

Sorry. I never wanted her to go to long-term care. David: It's an emotional decision. Hi, mommy. Hi. David: Made worse for Diana, a registered nurse. Diana: Well, the first thing that I picked on was infection control. I see that what I would consider to be infection control was non-existent. Today's not a very comfortable day, is it? David: She tells management about her concerns and the home takes action, telling her she's not welcome. I can be in the home from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. My restriction is I can't be in the room when they're providing care for my mother. That's it. Now you're all straighter. Okay. David: So Diana installs security cameras in her mother's room. Diana: This is the PSW who has taken care of mom for several years. She's having an interaction with my father. She's showing how well she dresses mom, she colour coordinates for her.

David: It sounds caring. Very nice. The socks are matching the nightgown. It sounds good. And you think, this is a nice relationship. David: But when her father leaves the room, so do the nice words. My poor mother. Yeah. David: I don't imagine this has been an easy road by any stretch. Well, it makes you not trust people. You know what? It just makes you not trust your own judgement sometimes, when you think that people are okay. And then you find out that you could be so duped. David: The PSW in the video was fired, along with two bystanders. The city of Ottawa says it has a zero tolerance policy for abuse and has been working on an improvement plan. These are people who really are the most vulnerable. They're more vulnerable in many cases than children, because if this happened in a daycare, that daycare would be shut down in five minutes.

David: In Ontario alone, homes have reported about 21,000 incidents of abuse over six years. We share some of those cases with elder advocate Jane Meadus. We found a PSW, a personal support worker, returning to work after an allegation of abuse without any further training. Another incident of resident-to-resident sexual abuse. And then finally, resident-to-resident abuse that took place while the staff were asleep. Are these isolated or do you hear about things like that all the time? I hear about these things all the time. There's nothing worse than getting a call from a family member telling you about how they walked into a room and found their family member being assaulted.

Or discovering that their mother was sexually assaulted. We have people crying on the phone every day. David: And these are incidents under which they've caught it. That's correct. David: And they're not always caught. I would say that many of them aren't. David: The man on the floor died four days later. What do you say to a family whose loved ones are facing violence, abuse and neglect? [ ♪♪ ] David: Fighting for better care on your Marketplace. [ ♪♪ ] David: We're inside Ontario nursing homes, investigating why abuse rates are sky rocketing. When do we say long-term care has reached a crisis point? Oh. We're way past that.

I think we've been in crisis for years. And finally people are starting to see it. David: We take that message to Ontario's Minister of Health and Long-term Care. -I'm David. -Hi, David. David: Thanks very much for doing this. Hi, it's Eric. David: We tell Eric Hoskins about the dramatic rise we found in resident-on-resident violence. As the minister responsible, are you content that we've gone from four incidents a day in long-term care homes up to nine in just six years? Of course not. Of course not. We're talking about some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

I won't stop, I won't rest until those numbers diminish and go to zero. It's my responsibility as Minister. David: So we show him what happened to 84-year-old Meyer Sadoway. Wow... David: The man on the floor died four days later. I'm very sorry to hear that. That's very-- of course, it's very painful to watch. David: What do you say to a family who has experienced something like that when there are an increasing number of families whose loved ones are facing violence, abuse, and neglect? Well, first of all, I'd say that I'm very sorry to that family. No family should have to witness or experience that let alone the tragic result.

But what I will say is that I take these incidents very, very seriously. David: Ontario is promising more direct care hours in nursing homes. But many front line workers say without a minimum number of staff, homes won't improve. This is one of your inspectors saying we're fighting for that. One of the people who reports to you through your ministry is saying we're fighting to have a ratio. So we are addressing the staffing issue, as I mentioned.

We're adding 15 million more hours across the province, and also we're doing many important things with our-- David: Even though some of those PSWs say more hours are great, but without more staff, it's kind of meaningless? Well, more hours translates into more staff. David: There's no legal floor, there's no minimum number or ratio. But there's a legal requirement that that staffing ratio, that staffing plan has to reflect the nature of the residents that live there. David: You believe that's the solution to all of this? Well, I think it's part of the solution. David: As the government searches for a solution, how do you ensure you're choosing a good home for an aging loved one? You need to do your homework before you go in.

Speak to people who have family members there. Do the tour. You need to go in at the morning, at night and evening. Make sure that they are getting the care, that it's not only doing sort of the normal visiting hours after work. David: And from those who are there. What do other people who have vulnerable family members in long-term care homes need to be thinking about? Everybody has to start being an advocate. It's time to stop being afraid. [ ♪♪ ] Asha: You first saw him on Dragon's Den. I developed a technology to help people's backs get better. Asha: Promoting a product that blew them away. That was unbelievable. You get caught up in the moment of the deal. Asha: We put his magic clips to the test. I'm not really feeling a whole lot.

Some people say you're a snake oil salesman. Well, everybody has an opinion. Asha: On your next Marketplace. [ ♪♪ ].