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"Granny dumping"
Year Published: 1992Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX4480 Abstract: Elderly Americans are being abandoned at hospital emergency departments in a new phenomenon known as "granny-dumping", according to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). According to AARP, the old persons are usually left in the emergency waiting room by relatives. By the time hospital staff realize that the old person is not sick, the relatives have disappeared. Some just drop off the relative from a car and summon staff by sounding the horn, before driving away. According to Dr. Tom Mitchell, the head of emergency at Tampa General Hospital, which sees two or three such cases a week, people dumping relatives "feel overwhelmed. They have reached the point where they can no longer care for the old person." Medicare in the United States does not pay for care in nursing homes, or for long-term care at home, and temporary help is difficult to obtain. Subject Headings |