MONTEGO BAY, St James — Medical professional Carla Davis is blowing the whistle on what she describes as “clear cases of elder abuse”.

In an exclusive interview with the Jamaica Observer Davis told alarming stories of elderly people turning up at the medical facility in St Andrew which she operates alongside her husband, a medical doctor, crying out for their help.

Davis said that among these elderly patients was a 91-year-old woman whose hip was broken, an elderly man who alleged that he was pushed by his caretaker, and another man who said he was hungry and also needed his diaper to be changed.

“A lot of cases are surfacing in our office where they are taking advantage of the elderly,” Davis told the Sunday Observer.

She further explained that alarm bells rang inside their heads after another elderly woman was recently brought to the medical facility for an infected wound to her leg. Davis said that she was left uncomfortable after hearing the troubling stories that the woman shared.

“The patient was brought to my office to assist with a wound that she had, and consequently the story came out when the patient cried out to the doctor for assistance. Her blood pressure was fine but she had a huge wound to her leg, and the leg was almost the size of a jackfruit. She was very disturbed by what was happening to her,” said Davis.

She said that the woman, who is an 89-year-old returned resident, told her husband and herself that she is being mistreated by her now-deceased husband’s daughter, who is said to be well known. Davis also said that the elderly woman alleged that her stepdaughter made her sign documents in the presence of a lawyer to appoint her as the woman’s power of attorney.

“She asked the stepdaughter to assist her and she said, ‘Sure.’ The stepdaughter brought a lawyer over to get her to do a power of attorney, and she said that the stepdaughter also organised for her to get a widow’s pension, along with the pension that the husband had left for her,” Davis explained.

“She said that the stepdaughter was not treating her well, so she was not happy with the arrangement. She said that she got six bottles of water every month, a little packet of raisins, a small bottle of grape juice, one loaf of bread, three tins of sardines, one box of milk, and a pack of [diapers]. That was supposed to last her for the month, so she told us that she thought her stepdaughter would be taking care of her and she would get the groceries she would normally buy for herself.”

Davis said that as months went by, the elderly woman’s situation worsened. She said the woman became frightened after allegedly overhearing talks about being relocated to an assisted living facility.

On top of that, Davis said the woman expressed the belief that her home may be at risk.

“She explained to me that after she signed some papers — she didn’t even know what she signed — but she said she saw them come there, measuring up. It seemed as if they were surveying the woman’s property,” Davis said.

Explaining that the elderly woman shared that she has no children or close family members living in Jamaica, Davis told the Sunday Observer that her husband and herself stepped in to seek justice for her.

“We decided that we were not going to charge them for medical attention, so we would go to her home to clean and dress her wound. We also found out that when she went to the hospital previously [the power of attorney] gave a history that the lady was hypertensive, schizophrenic and suffered from dementia, but we found out that it was not true. She was malnourished so her body was breaking down, and that is how she ended up with an ulcer on the bad leg,” Davis said.

“We started to buy food because none was there. I had to buy the better-standard Pampers so her urine does not leak out on the bed. I go over there every other day — sometimes every day — to bathe her, clean her house, and wash her clothes because a lady that was looking after her had to leave,” she added.

Davis also noted that the elderly woman communicated that she would like to revoke her power of attorney from her stepdaughter, however, this has yet to materialise as their efforts were ignored.

“She said that she wanted to do a revocation of the power of attorney so we got a lawyer to do that. It was served on her to return the lady’s things and that she no longer had power of attorney. That was done almost three weeks now and she still has not done that,” Davis said.

In the meantime, Davis told the Sunday Observer that she is alarmed by the situation, and is calling for caretakers to desist from mistreating the elderly.

“How many elderly people have others like us who can rescue them? And I don’t want anything from her, I just want to help her because my mother was murdered, so if my mother was alive I would have been taking care of her. It pains my heart. It seems like it is the norm because it is happening so much. They are taking these people and putting them in retirement homes then seize their properties to sell them and get the money,” she bemoaned.

“She has become my number one priority. My son is a dentist so he made her new dentures so she can eat her food comfortably, and like how us Jamaicans would say: ‘If you ever see how she put on weight!’ ” Davis added.