July 30, 2006
WHEN CARETAKERS ARE EXECUTIONERS A BEATING OR TWO SEEMS REASONABLE:
Secrets & lies: The case of Brooke Astor highlights concerns of elder abuse in the city (GINA SALAMONE, 7/30/06, NY Daily News)
Accusations that Brooke Astor is being mistreated by her son, acting as her caretaker, have shocked New Yorkers, but the beloved philanthropist's situation is far from unique.Up to 50,000 seniors in the city are believed to be suffering through some form of abuse each year, according to the Department for the Aging. And most of these cases are never brought to light.
One woman, who we'll call Beth to protect her identity, was physically attacked for two years and psychologically abused for five years by a live-in family member. It was only after he put her in the hospital that she decided it had to stop.
He punched her all over her body on that occasion, and she nearly passed out from the blows.
"Up until that time I hadn't told anybody," Beth says. "Then I realized either I did something about it or he was going to kill me - by mistake. And I don't want to die."
Yet the Left believes he should be allowed to kill her. After all, her quality of life is terrible. Who'd want to live that way..... Posted by Orrin Judd at July 30, 2006 9:43 AM
WHEN CARETAKERS ARE EXECUTIONERS...
When they're also heirs it seems unavoidable.
Posted by: David Cohen at July 30, 2006 11:14 AMDavid, are you saying that heirs who are care takers, are also executioners? Few of us heirs have heirloomery on the scale of Brooke Astor, so I won't speak to the fortunes of the 400, but as for the rest of us, we just have the very unhappy task of dismantling a lifetime's flotsam and jetsam with no help and a passel of criticism. No family member wants the candy dish that always had almonds and raisins at the ready for little hands, neither do they want it discarded and multiply this by hundreds of other such heirlooms.
What to do? I dare say I speak for many other caregivers/executioners that we probably wouldn't have offed the poor old soul if we had known what a thankless task it would be to be the heir.
erp: You have just written the modern King Lear.
Posted by: David Cohen at July 30, 2006 5:29 PMIf that's a compliment, thank you. If it isn't, bug off. This is a very touchy subject as you might have guessed.
Posted by: erp at July 30, 2006 5:40 PMA complement to you, though a telling put-down of modernism.
Posted by: David Cohen at July 30, 2006 6:01 PM