An elderly person with dementia who is confused about the dormitory... Shocking assault video captured on CCTV
The CCTV video file inside the nursing home obtained by SBS contained the memories of that terrible day.
It was a video taken last September at a nursing home in Geumjeong-gu, Busan.
A young man stopped an old man from going into the room with a walker, slapped him in the face, grabbed him by the neck and knocked him down.
In the end, he even slaps the old man's chest down with his knees.
An old man complaining of pain and unable to get up from the floor.
That's how the 30 second video ends.
The young man was a caregiver in his 30s, Mr. A, who worked at the nursing home.
A former special forces soldier with a strong physique, an elderly person with dementia in his 80s tried to enter the women's dormitory by mistake, and he assaulted him in the process of stopping him.
Two days later, Mr. A submitted his resignation letter to the nursing home.
An incident known to the world as a public interest whistleblower report
No one outside knew the fact that the assault had taken place a month after the incident.
However, in mid-October, a CCTV video report of an assault case came in to the competent ward office and senior protection agency.
The person in charge who checked the video said that a few days later, they immediately started an on-site investigation of the nursing home.
The problem is at this point.
The nursing home said that they did not know that the employee was assaulted, and that they thought that Mr. A had voluntarily left the company, and blamed Mr.
The nursing home side reported Mr. A to the police belatedly.
Also, I went to the family of the victim and said, 'My father had a fall accident and took me to the hospital last month.
However, I found out that there was also an assault.”
According to the victim's family, the victim's son's request to show the CCTV video went away after a day, so we don't have it either.
The victim's son said, 'It is an individual deviation of Mr. A, and the nursing home has not intervened at all.
Mr. A has already left the company, and I believed the nursing home's words, 'I will take care of his father even more.'
So, I signed the agreement they came up with 'I won't take it anymore'.
Five months later, the nursing home is still operating normally.
Concealment revealed... "The nursing home already knew"
This incident, which seemed to pass like that, faced another phase when a report came to SBS.
The informant told reporters, "The nursing home knew all the facts right after the assault, and systematically tried to cover it up."
The public interest informant said that the day after the incident occurred, officials at the nursing home exchanged CCTV images with each other, and there was also a record of social media conversations that called Mr. A to come to the office.
Mr. A's resignation was not voluntary, but it is suspicious that there may have been a request from a nursing home.
Also, in mid-October, after the report of a public interest reporter, the reporters secured the transcript of the countermeasure meeting that took place ahead of a joint investigation by related organizations.
The director of the nursing home said at this meeting, "The CCTV footage can be viewed amongst the staff, so let them delete it. No matter who asks, tell me that Mr. A voluntarily resigned after hitting his grandfather to harm us. This is our only argument now." An insider at the nursing home testified that he gave specific concealment instructions.
Employees say they had to be called several times by the director and the director, etc., ahead of an investigation into the elderly assault victim.
They described it as 'mental education'.
We decided on the questions and answers, and persistently inquired about what the employees answered after completing the investigation.
If you don't like the answer, you're out of your mind, and I urge you to answer that you said something wrong.
Employees say they had to face intimidation rather than intimidation from the nursing home.
"If you lose your job here, you'll lose your job and you won't be able to make any money right now. If you make a speech mistake and get a suspension or a fine, I'll charge you for it."
(Chief of Nursing Home)
The reason the informant was courageous was as follows.
"If this really happens, people in nursing homes will do the same thing again, and I think they should deal with it like this. Because it happened with CCTV, CCTV is no longer in operation."
(Informant)
A family who never heard anything... and what's left
I went to the sanatorium to get an answer, but there was no answer.
I had a hard time talking on the phone with Mr. Kim, the head of the nursing home, but he hung up the phone saying 'I have nothing to say' and did not respond to texts.
He gave me enough opportunities to explain, but for some reason, he remained silent.
The most indignant was the victim's family.
He was not informed of anything to make the case like this.
The family shed tears, wishing that the father, who had dementia, could say that he was sick when he was sick, and that he was beaten when he was beaten.
On behalf of his father, who can't even remember the damage, he is currently preparing a lawsuit to invalidate the settlement.
Now it is the turn of the district office that manages and supervises the nursing home.
According to the Elderly Welfare Act, the head and staff of a nursing home are required to report the abuse to the investigation agency immediately upon recognizing the abuse. Failure to comply will result in a fine for negligence.
The Geumjeong-gu Office, the district office with jurisdiction, is planning to hold a case investigation committee with an aged protection institution and make a final decision on the nursing home in the near future.
The caregiver assaulted an elderly person with dementia who had no strength to resist, relying on a walking aid, and the nursing home tried to cover up the assault without notifying the family.
Even after the incident was revealed to the public, he continued to lie.
It is regrettable what would have happened if the nursing home had properly dealt with it after recognizing the first assault case.
In order to ensure that this does not happen again, it is necessary to strengthen reporting obligations when abuses occur in nursing homes.
When hiding, concealing, or reducing the punishment, the punishment should be further strengthened.
In the era of super-aging, the number of residents or patients in nursing homes is expected to increase sharply.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare and local governments, which are in charge of managing and supervising nursing homes, should rethink the reporting system and response manual for all abuses from now on, thinking that 'I may go there in the future'.