WARNING: Distressing content. Injuries to an elderly man, who was allegedly violently bashed inside a Sydney nursing home, are much worse than first thought.
John Cain, 87, is recovering in hospital with bleeding on the brain, a broken eye socket and a burst eardrum after being attacked on Wednesday night at a HammondCare facility in Sydney’s southwest.
A fellow resident, aged 67, has been charged with the assault. He was granted bail and ordered by a court to never return to the facility.
Cain’s family is distraught and angry. “It makes me feel really sad for that family as well. I feel that HammondCare not only failed my family but they’ve also failed that family,” his daughter Margaret said. “There are defensive wounds on his arms. They’re also being bandaged up.”
His 85-year-old wife Leah called the home on Wednesday night and was told he’d suffered a fall. “She just does not understand how dad was outside unsupervised at night in the middle of winter,” Margaret said.
Both men were in the dementia wing, with HammondCare triggering its own internal investigation into the incident. “In the unit we have people with extreme behaviours and unfortunately things can happen,” HammondCare Executive General Manager Jenny Summerton told Sydney radio station 2GB.
“These are people that have high-level needs. They get funded for high-level needs and there needs to be appropriate care,” Aged Care Justice’s Anna Willis said.
Cain had only been at the home for six months after waiting two years for a bed. His family is now deciding if he will ever go back.
