CANADA: Human Rights Complaint Filed Over Seniors Left In Old Diapers

Ontario Federation of Labour says institutions fail to fully follow law, contracts, bill of rights By Thomas Walkom, National Affairs Columnist TORONTO, Ontario (The Star), November 24, 2007: The Ontario Federation of Labour is filing a formal complaint with the province's Human Rights Commission on behalf of nursing home residents forced to sit or lie for hours at a time in urine-soaked diapers. Federation president Wayne Samuelson said yesterday that the umbrella union organization decided to take the commission route because, after raising this issue with legislators for months, it has still received no satisfactory response from Premier Dalton's McGuinty's government. It is also filing a second formal complaint on Monday with the provincial ministry of health, charging that long-term care institutions are failing to live up to the law that regulates them, to their service contracts with the government, and to a new nursing homes bill of rights that promises "to fully recognize the residents' dignity and individuality." In a letter to chief Ontario human rights commissioner Barbara Hall, the OFL charges that the government's policy of scrimping on incontinence products for nursing home residents has led to discrimination on the basis of age, disability and sex. In most cases, nursing homes refuse to change a resident's adult diaper until a strip on the pad changes colour to show that it is 75 per cent full. Those long-term care workers who disobey are liable to discipline from their employers. Even after bathing, residents may be forced to put back on urine-soaked diapers if the pads are not yet three-quarters full, the letter states. "Such policies and practices impose harmful, disrespectful and undignified effects on residents who are incontinent, elderly and dependant on care," it reads. At the core of the complaint is money. The government allots only $1.20 per resident per day to nursing and old age homes for so-called incontinence products. It also does not require nursing homes to provide a fixed number of hours of personal care for each resident – since this would require more staff. When asked about the problem last month, a health ministry spokesperson says $1.20 per person is not as chintzy as it might seem, since not all residents are incontinent. He also said that anyone who felt hard done by could file a formal complaint. Family members and nursing home staff who have spoken to the Star about residents sitting in their own waste say they are afraid to complain for fear of retaliation. The letter to Hall asks that her commission set up an inquiry and make recommendations. Mary Cornish, the federation's lawyer, said that if the commission does follow this route it won't be able to force nursing homes to change their ways. But it could put political pressure on the government. Samuelson said if the federation's latest two-prong attack doesn't work, it will lay formal complaints nursing home by nursing home. By Thomas Walkom © Copyright Toronto Star 1996-2007