NO ONE in the twilight of his or her years should have to suffer and die the way 81-year-old Amy Murphy did last week.News reports suggest she was mauled to death by a pack of dogs as she went for an early morning walk, ironically within the confines of the property of the Golden Age Home in Vineyard Town, Kingston. Initial reports also suggested that the dogs might have been attracted to the property by the scent of food and attacked her as she neared them.
Quite apart from the fact that there have been sporadic tragedies affecting the elderly in state-run infirmaries in Jamaica over the past 25 years, this specific incident raises questions about supervision of and the care of elderly residents.
The Jamaican proverb, 'Once a man, twice a child', would be apropos since residents in nursing homes are frequently as vulnerable as infants. Indeed, if we were to adopt Mohandas Gandhi's famous adage that the measure of a society is the way it treats its children, old people and criminals, then this incident suggests we in Jamaica have again missed the mark by a wide margin.
Many elderly are prone to wander given the onset of Alzheimer's and senility. We make no accusation or charges against employees or administrators of the Home in the instant case, but we suggest an awareness of these dangers should encourage special vigilance at shelters for senior citizens that would reduce the likelihood of untimely death such as Ms. Murphy's.
In a sense, the inmates must be protected from themselves as well as from potential external dangers. This entails keeping close watch on them as well as maintaining the property's fences and gates in such a way as to keep out unwanted stray animals and miscreants.
Veterinarian and Member of Parliament for East St. Andrew, Dr. St. Aubyn Bartlett, has cautioned against a rush to judgement arguing that Jamaica is not known to have the kind of dogs that attack people with the viciousness common to pit bulls. He has drawn reference to the 1998 case of Adina Edwards at the Spanish Town Infirmary who was reported to have died after a dog attack. Subsequent reports, after an autopsy, indicated she died of natural causes and that her corpse being bitten by dogs would have happened after her death.
It would indeed be a very sorry case if inmates are being neglected to the point that they might be dead for several hours without anyone realising, and then animals attacking the corpses.
We note that Minister of Local Government, Portia Simpson Miller, has requested an investigation to determine exactly what transpired. We trust that the findings will serve as a useful blueprint for improving on the security and care of our elderly at similar institutions across the island.
