vulnerable elderly patients - RANT

sam34

tallaght/indy, i hope ye dont mind me posting this here - i want serious responses so i dont think AH is the place to go, and anyway it's kinda a medical issue, as it's something i came across at work yesterday.....


im working in old age psych, and a lot of our work is domicilary/home visit based.

yesterday the community nurse and i called to see a 93 year old lady, who lives alone in a rural area.

unfortunately for her, she has no family. literally, none. never married, no kids, only sibling died a month ago (and was living in england anyway).


we have seen her before a few times, this was a routine review.

she has an isolated, systematized delusional disorder.

despite her age, she is cognitively very sharp, definitely no evidence of any dementia or even mild memory impairment.

now, the local scumbags, and probably the out-of-town scumbags also, have cottoned onto the fact that this is an elderly woman living alone.

in recent weeks she has had someone calling to her house, who claimed he was a guard and wanted to "check the serial numbers on her money as there are fake notes doing the rounds". so she gave him all the cash she had in the house - upwards of €800, to check. of course, he was gone like a bullet out of there.

she has also had someone else call, the usual scam, "your roof needs to be repaired" - luckily a local happened to be passing, sussed the guy was dodgy and put the run on him.

and, most recently, someone else has called, claiming to be a guard, sayinh he wanted to check "something". luckily, she only spoke to him through the window and didnt let him in.

it is just utterly sickening to think these f***ers are out there, targeting someone who is so vulnerable and helpless.

i called into the nearest garda station afterwards (lol, and people claim all us shrinks do is pump people up with SSRIS!) and spoke to the guy on the desk. he said they know who got the cash, and they know who the most recent caller was, as they're "active" in teh local area at the minute, but they suspect the roofing guy has probably moved on. they know the other two. but they cant prove it. so their hands are tied. and thats fair enough.

he was very helpful, in that he suggested she install CCTV (even if she couldnt work it, it would be a deterrant), put the garda station phone no on speed dial, rather than have to go looking for it or ringing 999 and waiting to be transferred in an emergency, and he said they will patrol around her area a bit more often. she already has one of those response alarm thingies that most old people have.

i dont know why im posting this really - i guess i just wanted to rant.i odnt even have a specific question i want answered. i actually didnt sleep well last night, i was that disgusted at these lowlife. imagine that poor woman, at the end of her life, terrified in her own home, afraid to open her own front door. horrendous.