VICTORIA — British Columbia seniors' advocate says 16 people have died in the last three years in a disturbing trend of violence among elderly in residential-care facilities.
Isobel Mackenzie says data available for the first time shows there were as many as 550 incidents of resident-on-resident violence at B.C. care facilities in 2014-2015 and the issue must be further examined.
She says her review will include in-depth research to determine if there are patterns or systemic issues that contribute to increased aggression.
Mackenzie says there are more than 27,000 seniors at care facilities, and total incidents of violence are small but substantial.
The advocate delivered a seniors monitoring report that found 235 serious violent incidents among seniors at care facilities last year.
On a positive note, Mackenzie says her office finds that 96 per cent of B.C. seniors have their own doctor and four out of five elderly have no diagnosis of dementia.
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