Member

There is an extent to which many of these people are a forgotten, isolated group, who have very little control over their lives. Many of them just cannot leave their nursing and care homes. They are very much susceptible to pressure and coercion, both organisational coercion and personal coercion. We know there have been terrible cases of abuse of the elderly in care homes. Age UK lists the possible forms of abuse. It is very long, but perhaps for this purpose, financial, economic, physical, psychological and organisational abuse are particularly relevant, as are neglect, acts of omission and domestic abuse. Age UK points out that a person can be subject to multiple forms of abuse simultaneously. Financial abuse may include an element of physical abuse, or neglect may be a feature of coercive control. Perpetrators of abuse or neglect are often people who are trusted and relied on by the older person, such as family members or care staff. In these circumstances, there is a risk of vulnerable care home residents being coerced, expressly or implicitly, into assisted dying, or just giving up, because their situation, which might be capable of immediate improvement, has become intolerable.