Family Sues Senior Home after Catching Alleged Elder Abuse on Video

By: Aruna Lee, New America Media

Relatives of an elderly Korean-American woman who died in June have filed suit with the senior home where she lived, after video footage taken in her room led to a state-ordered closing of the facility, reports the Korea Daily in Oakland. The lawsuit claims that abuse by caregivers there led to the woman’s untimely death.

According to the Korea Daily article, 73-year-old Kyong-hui Duncan died while her family was in the process of looking for a new senior home for her. Suspicious of the care she was receiving at the Fair Oaks Residential Elderly Care center, located outside Sacramento, relatives had installed a security camera in Duncan’s room.

Though the family claims the camera was often shut off by care providers during routine visits, images taken by the camera during one such visit show caregivers violently shaking Duncan as they attempt to place her in a wheelchair. The family adds that she would often be seen sitting in her room for hours, crying for help, sometimes upside down in her wheelchair, without any response from the attendants at the center. Bruises were also periodically found on her body, while an autopsy revealed toxins from medicines not prescribed by her doctors.

The video is at the center of the abuse, neglect and wrongful death charges brought by the family against the center. It also prompted the facility's closure, a rare move in such cases.

According to the Adult Protective Services agency in Los Angeles, a city that is home to a large number of Koreans, reports of elder abuse involving Koreans have increased. Helen Lee with the Los Angeles Department of Aging said larger numbers of Koreans have reported suffering from elder abuse since the beginning of the recession. She added that many are reluctant to seek out help out of shame and the fear of humiliation.

The facility’s owners — who are also Korean-American — have denied all charges and accuse the family of the deceased of seeking undue compensation.