The Ageing and Elder Abuse…relationship between social security – Pensions

We continue our focus on elder abuse in Barbados – Blogmaster
Submitted by Cheurfleur

Pensions are paid to old people from the NIS Fund which is financed by contributions from the employed. That group of able persons ages 18 to 60, originally, i.e 42 years by 52 weeks plus  plus 7 years by 52 weeks, i.e 67 years now.  

With a population of 1000 able bodied persons paying $100 for 42 years or 49, using annuities calculation the pot makes X to support Y in 1900s but Z currently.

I shall leave the actual calculations to Mr Annuity.  I am only concerned with elder abuse.

https://www.ssa.gov/history/pre1935.html

At its inception there weren’t that many people living far beyond 60 years of age. What we had was more contributors and less gobblers.  By the turn of the 19th century with better health services, vaccinations and greater production and higher income people began living longer.  No problem.

Then came the 20th century with women’s lib and all the other ‘liberations’ and fewer children were born ) per woman/family) thus fewer worker/contributors 20 years later vis  a vis elders migrating out of the system plus more more men on the ‘block’. (It’s worse in Japan).

There is a dilemma now.  How to balance this imbalance?  Have governments done anything constructive to balance it? 

They have raised contributions and extended the age of retirement by 7 years.  

But contributors are actually living until retirement (originally 60s) and surviving way beyond 80s (not the prayer request) at time of conceptualizing the ‘scheme’.  With the ‘rich man diseases’ prevalent, the plight of the fund managers is grave and great.  This was not how it was supposed to be.  You aren’t supposed to be there to get back 40 years of contributions.  Never mind the presumption of interest gained from your investments.  Ask Rockefeller or Rothschild.

Mr Annuity can tell you that there isn’t enough money to do business for these long-life, now  ‘good-for-nothing’, ‘resource sucking’ retirees.  Albeit some have worked and put aside extras in private pensions and endowments to make a better nest but they still have to give back what they took earlier.  Mathematicians nor Actuaries can fix this.

Every man for himself and God for us all.  Stay clear of hospitals

Forget your children and relatives who will prey pon yuh fuh yuh li’le pension and other valuables.  The real abusers are the vultures who first took the contributions and are taking again.  Notice how many of the aged population died during 2019 to 2020 and are still the most vulnerable.

What goes?

I have to ask questions from here on.

  • What profit it is to anyone faced with this quandary to put policies in place to protect you – old work horses?
  • Why fight to save a life that is costing you on the down side when there is no income from the up side to make it feasible?
  • Why expend resources on a population that is not giving any returns (at point) when the resource can be invested on a population to bring up resources?

If it would save some lives, won’t someone just propose that those who can fend for themselves, economically, do so and relieve the burden so that no one would want to move them out of the way, earlier?

It is not only family and the nearby public that are abusing the elderly.  

Cynthia Forde Do Your Job!

Submitted by Cherfleur

Remember the Menendez Brothers who hacked their parents to death in California in 1986 and claimed it was a botched robbery then claimed sexual abuse by the father. Well!

Elder abuse is very serious. It is not a game for ignoramuses especially when ex-wives and properties are involved.

So Stephen Lashley gloated in the press on July 19, about me not having standing in the elder abuse matter and that my actions were an abuse of the court. Stephen Lashley only knows what he knows. I reiterate that I did not take a Mental Health matter to court but in fact the Judge told him, I filed to bring the matter to the attention of the court What he should have told the Reporter was that he removed himself from the case after filing the Claim Form and why he did so.

Now I have the Order and requested the file. On February 25th I advised the court that the elder had another child from a previous union. Everyone was shocked by this revelation. The Judge warned the defence team to be transparent. Counsel prepared the Claim Form then passed the matter to another Attorney who then passed it on to another. When you see such movements you deduce that persons are playing Pontius Pilate

So the very Perpetrator I brought before the court was given Receivership. She not only misrepresented the fact that there was another offspring but also neglected to give the elder or inform him that he was required to be present in court on the first day of the proceedings.

But worse than that it can be deduced that the receiver or her agents are tampering or manipulating the elder’s medication. If Doctor Charles in his report of ​March 2, 2020​ stated that he had been attending to the elder for three years and diagnosed Dementia on April 9, 2019 and prescribed medication to keep the disease stable then on July 30,2020 Dr Nya Maughn assessed the elder ​once and conclude that “he lacks capacity to make decisions in his welfare and had difficulty understanding information and expressing himself” it suggests strongly that the perpetrator(s) either did not give him his medication or gave him too much (depending on what medication it is)

What we have is a brewing crisis. The Welfare Unit was not invited to provide a Report on the elder’s circumstances. Wuhnna got to be kidding. Elder abuse and no welfare intervention? The judge was invited to liaise with the unit of the Ministry of Elder Affairs to get guidance on this matter and reneged on that arrangement.

This matter was plunged into a crisis since that faithful misstep. Not only that but the Judge also refused to provide protection for the elder against any form of psychological or emotional abuse and intimidation or harassment.
Dr Charles’ Report also noted anxiety on the elder’s visit in June 2017. Just about the same time I visited and was alerted to the untenable conditions he was surrounded by.

What is Cynthia Ford doing for the salary she collects?

Do I have to spend the rest of time monitoring this human being’s twilight days? Cynthia Ford needs to get up off her laurels and get an elder abuse legislation with so me teeth on the table. This is an embarrassment!

Related Link: Elder Abuse Is the New Normal

Elder Abuse Is the New Normal

Submitted by Cherfleur

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), elder abuse is an important public health problem. A 2017 study based on the best available evidence from 52 studies in 28 countries from diverse regions, including 12 low and middle-income countries, estimated that over the past year 15.7% of people aged 60 years and older were subjected to some form of abuse (1).

Public health is not mental health.  It is unacceptable, contemptible for every person over 60 or 70 years old to be dumped in a sanatorium or in a ‘shrink’s’ office for examination and assessed when they complain of abuse or someone complains on their behalf.

Why then is there no legislation for Elder Abuse in Barbados.  Although I have informed on the gravity of this issue since 2018?  No White Paper no Green Paper. Nothing. Nada.

****Data on the extent of the problem in institutions such as hospitals, nursing homes, and other long-term care facilities are scarce. However, systematic reviews and meta-analyses of recent studies on elder abuse in both institutional (2) and community settings (1) based on self-report by older adults suggests that the rates of abuse are much higher in institutions than in community settings (see Table).

 Elder abuse in community settings (1)Elder abuse in institutional settings (2)
Type of abusReported by older adultsReported by older adults and their proxiesReported by staff
Overall Prevalence15.7%Not enough data64.2% or 2 in 3 staff
Psychological abuse:11.6%33.4%32.5%
Physical abuse:2.6%14.1%9.3%
Financial abuse:6.8%13.8%Not enough data
Neglect:4.2%11.6%12.0%
Sexual abuse:0.9%1.9%0.7%
Table: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses

Abusive acts in institutions may include physically restraining patients, depriving them of dignity (for instance, by leaving them in soiled clothes) and choice over daily affairs; intentionally providing insufficient care (such as allowing them to develop pressure sores); over and under-medicating and withholding medication from patients; and emotional neglect and abuse.

Relevant Link: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/elder-abuse

From the Table (compiled of only reported cases) community elder abuse is much less than institutional elder abuse.  That is deceptive and misleading.  A greater number of community elder abuse exists, especially in affluent communities.  The incidences are greater by trusted persons aka relatives.  It is darn hard to detect and more so to prosecute unless the elder gets a chance to get to a trusted outsider or is humble enough to even let on that things aren’t what they should be.

What then is Cynthia Ford doing? 

Hoping that old people just disappear?

Oh Dear!

We are all growing old and most of us are living longer. There are no guarantees. What is responsible in many instances is the lack of opportunities for younger people or people generally to earn liveable incomes or to worse to plan for their retirement. Baby boomers are the target.