Nursing Home OAP, Aged 102, Dies While Strapped To Bed

This viral video – with over seven million views – shows a frail 102-year-old woman at a nursing home being strapped tightly to a bed before she died while struggling to free herself for over three hours.

The emaciated resident manages twice to loosen a seemingly uncomfortable strap around her chest, but returning staff members bind it even more tightly after each attempted, the security camera video shows.

The family of the pensioner named as Gao Zai are unable to ascertain her exact cause of death – because they were only shown full CCTV footage from her room the day after she was cremated.

Video Credit: AsiaWire

The Jiujiu Yijia care centre, which is in Nanchang’s Qingshanhu District in East China’s Jiangxi Province, claims the patient’s family consented to the medical restraints; however, no formal agreement was signed.

Gao moved to the Jiujiu Yijia on 16th September 2017 after her daughters, both of whom are in their 80s, were no longer physically capable of looking after her themselves.

Hu Lanru, Gao’s eldest, said her mother was “normal” and had no problems holding conversations with her when she visited on the afternoon 7th April.

Credit: AsiaWire
The pensioner strapped to the bed by the caretakers

The centre charged monthly fees of 3,600 RMB (407 GBP) and cared for Gao without issue until early April, when the facility began restraining her in her bed to prevent her from walking about at night.

However, the facility called at 10:40pm local time later the same day informing her that her mum had “died peacefully in her sleep”.

Gao’s remains were discharged to her family, who trusted the care home’s version of events, and who opted to cremate her according to customs the following day.

Hu said lingering questions about her mother’s death, including the precise time she passed away, led her to request full CCTV video from her room on 10th April while collecting her belongings.

The images shocked her when they showed her emaciated and elderly mother being repeatedly restrained by staff members, who tied three straps across her bed to prevent her from getting up.

This happens under the supervision of the centre’s deputy director Xiong Yi, who family members have quoted as saying: “It’s only natural for somebody so old to have died.”

Credit: AsiaWire
The pensioner found dead by the caretakers

The footage shows staff members returning at 10:42pm – two minutes after informing Gao’s family of her death – to remove the restrains from her room.

In the video, the centenarian struggles for more than three hours to free herself from the restrains before finally dying in the bed.

Qingshanhu District police had announced on 8th May that they were unable to press any charges against the centre due to their inability to perform an autopsy on the pensioner.

However, a statement by the district government on 16th May said its independent investigation found “misconduct” on the part of care home staff, as well as “serious management issues”.

Officials have ordered the facility to be suspended pending “reorganisation”.

“For the patient’s own safety, staff and family members held a long discussion and and decided to protect her with restrains starting on 1st April.

Credit: AsiaWire
The pensioner struggling during the night

Jiujiu Yijia’s owner, Mr Zhang, told local media: “The pensioner would wake up on her own, walk around and fall over.

“No paperwork was formally created in order for the family to sign and agreed to the nature of the restraining policy. 

“That was due to good relations with the family, but it was an oversight.”

Zhang said the facility’s director and deputy director had been fined two months’ salary, while related staff have been transferred pending further punishment.

The care home is still negotiating with the patient’s family over potential compensation, which may lead to a civil suit.


To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

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