We Need a Culture of Respect for the Elderly

March 4, 2008

Scotland

At first sight, the conviction of the nurse Colin Norris for murdering four of his elderly women patients by injecting them with insulin can be dismissed as just another of those macabre but random incidents that life throws up. 
It would be easy to pigeonhole Norris as merely another twisted mind who used the accident of a career in the medical profession to wreak human misery – similar to Dr Harold Shipman, who was convicted of murdering 15 of his mostly elderly patients, though the real total was probably over 200.

But we have to ask ourselves why it seems so comparatively easy for people such as Norris and Shipman to go on killing without suspicion arising earlier. Part of the explanation is that Norris and Shipman preyed on the elderly, and our society is too ready to assume that the death of an older person is probably "natural". Of course, chronically ill people in their late eighties stand a higher risk of natural death than people in their twenties. But there is another hidden social calculation being made: are we not sometimes thinking that the life of the elderly is less important?

Worse, there is a growing problem of physical and mental abuse of the elderly – especially the elderly in care. Colin Norris's pathological hatred of the elderly is merely an extreme example of a twisted culture that is becoming all too prevalent. Last year, a House of Commons inquiry estimated that as many as 500,000 elderly people in Britain are being abused by relatives, carers or strangers. An earlier survey, by the Community and District Nursing Association, found that nine out of ten nurses working in the community have come across cases of abuse of an elderly person – most often by the chief care-giver.

No doubt Colin Norris is an aberration, but the lack of dignity we afford our older people in the care system contributes to the ability of such freaks to kill without being discovered quickly. We may never be able to stop the odd psychopath from killing, but we can create a better system of professional care for the elderly that gives them better protection.

Unfortunately, the trend is in the opposite direction. Last year, the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care, the independent regulator established by Holyrood, reported a significant rise in complaints against care homes for the elderly. One reason may be that care for the elderly can be regarded (socially and politically) as a necessary chore. Yet by 2031, more than a quarter of the population of Scotland is going to be over 65. 

Most of us will be elderly one day. The elderly deserve respect and they deserve civilised treatment. We need better training of carers, coupled with a rigorous regulatory regime that fines agencies which breach the commonsense rules for looking after the elderly. 

That may not prevent another Colin Norris or Harold Shipman, but it may ensure they are caught more quickly.

More Information on World Elder Rights Issues