Old Age Homes

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OLD AGE HOMES

The most common stories I heard pertained to medical bills. A doctor is often available for consultations once or twice a week, but some inmates have been asked to undergo unnecessary tests (for which extra payment has to be made) and that too, only at particular labs recommended by the doctor. In one case, a woman in her sixties was told that she should have expensive tests done for checking her heart. The receptionist at the clinic (perhaps a new appointee !) naively asked the , when she turned up with her report, if she was having respiratory or other problems, and when she said no, she was feeling fine, the girl at the counter wondered, “Then why have you been asked to go for an echo-cardiogram ?” The woman had herself wondered - but with age, physical infirmities, both apparent and hidden, become scary bogies, and unscrupulous staff take advantage of this, to scare the elderly into paying for extra tests.

In another case, the deposit which was supposed to be refundable, was returned after heavy deductions, with the explanation that the charges were “for medicines”. A doctor associated with an NGO who checked the details of the charges, says it is doubtful if one person could have consumed so many medicines in the course of just four weeks as the home claimed. There were also no proper receipts for purchases, no chemists' bills or even doctor's official prescriptions, only scraps of paper with lists of drugs purportedly given. The aged inmate , when queried by the family, could not remember whether all these medicines had indeed been consumed.

In yet another case, an elderly parent who was hale and hearty and quite well for her age, was suddenly reported deceased, and the family was informed only after the lapse of two days. Why the delay, and why was the body sent for post mortem before the relatives were informed ? No proper explanations were forthcoming. The children of the deceased are even wondering if the organs were intact in the body, and whether there could be a racket of sorts. Nothing could be proved, however, and even the police declared that there was insufficient evidence to book a case.

Common complaints are about insufficient or unsatisfactory food, and lack of facilities promised on paper. It is common practice to have no written agreements at the time of admission, listing rules and entitlements. Some homes deduct 10 per cent of the deposit for each year of stay although technically the deposit is ‘refundable'. Cases have been known of homes for the aged printing ‘donation coupons' of small denominations (Rs 5, 10, which are affordable and do not call for scrutiny) and selling these by the roadside to collect money (which does not always go to benefit the inmates). Sometimes, those running such operations claim political connections, and so action against them is tardy or stalled.
Dr Radha Murthy of The Nightingales Medical Trust offers some suggestions for those who are contemplating admissions into old age homes.

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