William W.L. Wong, PhD, is former Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong SAR, China. He can be contacted at
All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Leo Tolstoy (Anna Karenina, 1878)
Even though Hong Kong is a global financial center with a huge fiscal reserve, it could not fully develop its formal welfare provision, especially caring of the old, disabled, and infirm, due to its fiscal austerity requirement. Behind its façade of economic prosperity, Hong Kong is, in fact, constituting an informal security welfare regime (
Hong Kong was returned to China by the United Kingdom on July 1, 1997 after 150 years of colonial rule. In 2017, the government of HKSAR completed its 20 years of administration. One of the key concerns of HKSAR has been its aging population and their welfare. Different kinds of programs have been implemented for older people since coming to power. An Elderly Commission was established in 1997 for the coordination and formulation of a unified aging policy, and a mandatory provident fund scheme in 2000. There has been promotion of active aging such as elder academy scheme in 2007, neighbourhood active aging project in 2008 and the $2 public transport fare concession scheme for the elderly in 2012, the introduction of a health voucher scheme and food banks in 2009, an old age living allowance (OALA) in 2012, a pilot voucher scheme for both community in 2013 and residential care provision in 2017, financial support for caregivers in 2014 and the abolition of the requirement for adult children to declare their financial inability when their aged parents apply for public assistance in 2017. A higher OALA was also implemented in 2018.
A question arises at this point: How far and to what extent are these programmes meeting the needs of older people and their families? In this article older people are those who are 65 and above. In fact, government’s reports (
This article explores older people’s conditions from a different viewpoint. It aims to examine cases of 50 individual older persons that occurred in Hong Kong between 1997 and 2017. These cases illustrate some of the experiences of older people in the last two decades. The cases are randomly collected from newspapers and a few from books and digital sources. The cases involving older persons are studied because research in this area is sparse (
Hong Kong is a highly urbanized city with an area of 1,095 square kilometre (423 sq. mile). According to the 2018
In addition to poverty among older people in Hong Kong, surveys have also found another kind of hardship, which is their weak social support network (
The development of aging policy in Hong Kong has a long history going back to 1973, when a
In 2014–2015, the number of older people receiving community support services was 9688 and the number of people on the waiting list was 4981. Community-support service includes home-based services and day-care services. Home-based services include personal and nursing care, rehabilitation exercise, home-making, meals-on-wheels, transportation and escort services. Day care services are for those frail elders whose family members are unable to take care of them during day time. Transportation services are provided between users’ home and day care centre. Services include personal and nursing care, rehabilitation exercise, health education, meals, social and recreational activities. Residential care services (RCS) are offered by (a) subsidized (NGO)/contract homes (purposely-built home run by either NGO or private operator through government tender bidding) and (b) private (for-profit commercial)/self-financing homes (non-profit making). The number of residents in subsidized/contract homes was 26,325 and the number of residents in private/self-financing homes was 46,910. The number of elderly people on the waiting list was 31,349. Many elderly applicants on the waiting list pass away before being offered a place, and in 2014, their figure was 5568 (
Hong Kong is a low-tax haven (
In 1998, the self-reliance scheme or workfare was implemented (
It was not surprising to find a group of older female scavengers trying to make a living by picking up discarded paper boxes and selling to recycling shop. Lan Tsz, a scavenger, said: “I don’t want to live on social security, I prefer to try and be sufficient” (
There are 50 cases and they are a mixture of different kinds of life events reflecting sentiments such as helplessness, violence, desperation, self-reliance, abjection, pain and suffering, acquiescence, and resistance.
Among these 50 cases, 17 types of life events can be identified, and cases of similar nature are grouped together for the purpose of analysis. In the analysis, the author has included comments from newspapers, research reports, and other relevant materials. A brief introduction of the number of cases according to age and gender is outlined below, followed by the case analysis.
There were a total of 72 people in these 50 cases, including the spouse and adult children (
Age range | Distribution of cases | Age range | Distribution of cases |
---|---|---|---|
99–95 | 1 | 69–65 | 10 |
94–90 | 2 | 64–60 | 6 |
89–85 | 5 | 59–55 | 4 |
84–80 | 16 | 54–50 | 3 |
79–75 | 9 | 49–45 | 2 |
74–70 | 12 | 44–40 | 1 |
24 | 1 |
In this study, there were more men than women, with 53 males and 19 females. The predominant male ratio explained that there were a total of 20 family and couple households. One household comprised only son-in-law and father-in-law and no female member. Yet out of 26 individual cases, 24 of them were males. Another explanation is that individual older males were less home-bound and were the outgoing-type, while their female counterparts were home makers which in this study were fewer in number. The gender and the types of cases are shown in
Gender | Types of Cases |
Total number | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Individual | Couple/family | Parent-adult child | Others | ||
Male | 24 | 10 | 14 | 5 | 53 |
Female | 2 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 19 |
26 | 18 | 22 | 6 | 72 | |
(26) | (9) | (11) | (4) | (50) |
Figures in brackets are the total number of cases.
While examining suicide cases in Hong Kong between 1997 and 2003, it was pointed out that there was a 50% increase in suicides as compared to the past. Socioeconomic adversities seem to have played a relatively important role in the increasing suicide rate in Hong Kong (
It seems that housing and home relocation (case 1 and 2) and home admission (case 3 and 4) suicides were avoidable if the concerned authority were more attentive to the needs of the deceased. Owing to large number of applicants and long waiting list, an administration tended to speed up the admission process, and therefore an indecision on the part of applicants would increase stress.
For older people who lived in public housing estates, they had to abandon their public housing unit tenancy when they entered an aged home. If they found that aged home living is not suitable, then they were left with no choice but to stay there. For relocation cases, it would be more difficult if the compensation deal was not acceptable. According to a newspaper report, the man who committed suicide was in conversation with someone and became emotional. In order to show his intentions to stay, he jumped from the building. This emotionally charged behavior could also be found in the case of jade street-trader (case 5), who also committed suicide by setting himself on fire inside the magistrate court once his goods were confiscated. This kind of suicidal behavior is a form of resistance as noted by
In similar act of resistance, a retiree (case 8) attempted suicide by set fire to himself outside the office of the Appeal Board for Social Security Assistance Scheme to protest the delay of his payment. Luckily, the sprinkler system was switched on by smoke of the fire and he was saved from burning (
There are also cases of tragic couple homicides/suicides (case 12, 13, 15, 16 & 17). In response to case 17 of which a 80-years old man murdered his stroke-suffering 76-years old wife, Lau Sui-Lai, a member of the Legislative Council raised questions about the victim’s inability to withstand the pressure arising from prolonged caring of his old wife (case 17), the inadequacy of the services provided by the government, and the support for carergivers (
In the editorial column
When the victim-husband (case 17) was released from prison after serving his 2-year sentence, he talked to he was afraid to talk about his wife’s situation with anyone, even his relatives. The public housing estate (where he lived) is like an isolated island. When his neighbors saw him and his frail wife, they can only show their sympathy and not doing anything. My inability to seek help, and that would be good if I did so (in seeking help) now that I failed (not knowing how to seek help), the society had a strong reaction (murder of his wife) that already raised the alarm, the future society (especially elderly service) should have good performance. (
The other two “mercy-killing” cases (case 15 and 16) were carried out by their sons. In Case 15, a 47 years-old son with depression pushed his wheelchair-bound father into the sea. In Case 16, a 50-years old son threw himself and his 83-years old mother into the harbour, were similar to the above-mentioned case, as they both want to end the miserable conditions of their physically impaired parents, thus releasing their unbearable burden of care; perhaps they were performing the duty of filial piety.
In an analysis of relationship between terminal illness and depression in Canada,
Case 18, 19, 20, and 21 involved adult sons who were mentally ill. Three of them lived with their mothers while one of them with his father. In case18, a 63-year-old son killed his demented 90-year-old mother. The other three cases (case 19, 20, and 21), although not fatal but no less brutal, involved slightly younger dyads: 58/85, 24/76, and 44/72. One of the cases (case 22) was about a drug addict son stealing money from his 96-year-old father who was a public allowance recipient.
The last case (case 23) was of an alcoholic son who went street-begging with his wheelchair-bound mother. They travelled for an hour on a bus to the business area for street-begging. After collecting money, the son bought alcohol and drank, sitting beside his aged mother. Later he was arrested and jailed for a few weeks.
The drug addict case (case 22) was quite similar to the mentally ill cases. It was a variation of another type of mental “manifestation,” but with less social and cultural stigma attached to it. The alcoholic case was a different kind of domestic violence or abuse. From the view point of caring and family responsibility, the bizarre behavior would be a “protest” loud and strong, an expression showing either a reluctant acceptance of taking up the caring role of his mother or to show to the world that he is a filial son. Eventually, the government arranged for mother to stay in a nursing home. The two cases also involved parents of advanced age, one was 96-years-old (case 22) and the other was 85-years-old (case 19). On the aspect of family relationship, the advanced age of parents, who were probably their caregivers, also had long-term illness. Perhaps they were living together all along, although in early days they were able to fend themselves and never felt hurt. Their becoming old with insufficient support from government could be a source of these tragedies.
In this section, there were four cases in group (a). The first two cases were of older couples (case 24 and 25) and the last two (case 26 and 27) were of living-alone elder persons. In group (b), the first case (case 28) involved a couple, the second case (case 29) an elderly man with his son-in-law who was his caregiver, and the third case (case 30) an autistic son with her mother. In group (c), the first case (case 31) was a 47-years old daughter caring for her 80-years old father, and the second case (case 32) was about an 82-year-old mother and her 60-year-old wheelchair-bound son. These nine cases, except the two cases in group (c), shared the similarity of lacking of rescue or appropriate action when the older people encountered life-threatening accident.
In a newspaper article titled “The tragedy of 450,000 singleton elderly and co-living older couples,”
Regarding singleton elderly who passed away unnoticed,
There were three cases of dementia (case 33, 34, and 35). The first two cases involved leaving home, but because of dementia they lost their way back to home. The third case was more worrying because of its violent nature. A dementia male, resident of an elderly home, lost his temper and seriously hurt two of his co-residents. As mentioned above, there were two other cases involving dementia persons. In one of the murder-suicide couple case, wife was the victim of dementia illness (case 13). Another one (case 18) involved domestic violence in which 90-year-old woman having dementia was killed by his mentally ill son.
In a study on caregiving to older people with dementia and their families, authors observed that “caregivers expressed great concern about bothering their family members when there is a desperate need for help” (
There were seven cases in this group. The first two cases (case 36 and 37) were related to street-trading without license. The third case (case 38) was about using a fake identity card for applying for a security guard position. The fourth and fifth cases (cases 39 and 40) were about professional drivers and road accidents. The sixth case (case 41) involved a female courier worker knocked down by a car. The last case (case 42) was about a 70-year-old labourer who tried to move an over size refrigerator down the staircase and hurt himself. Relating to work, there was a suicidal case as mentioned above relating a 74-year-old janitor of a youth center who killed himself right on the eve of his retirement (case 6). Summing up, there should be a sensible policy to accommodate those who wish to continuously gainfully employed upon their retirement, and a healthcare scheme for older workers such as taxi and truck drivers.
There were eight cases in this group. The first two were arson attacks (case 43 and 44) carried out by two mentally ill persons. These were serious crimes and one of them was sentenced to life imprisonment. He said the government owed him money, and since his name was the same as that the given name of a mass transit railway (MTR) station that he set the station on fire. The third case (case 45) involved stealing a pack of pork ribs worth HK$12 (equivalent to about US$1.5). Not much information was available about this case in news reports. This would be either because of forgetfulness to pay or not having enough money to purchase the product.
The fourth case (case 46) involved robbery of a convenience store using a knife. The victim said the social security office mismanaged his case and stopped his social security payment. As a result, the hungry man out of desperation robbed the shop, but was unsuccessful. He showed remorse and felt guilty of what he had done. Similar situation was found in one of the individual attempted suicide cases. In case 8, instead of robbing a shop, the man attempted suicide. He said he had been unfairly treated by the social security office.
The fifth case (case 47) involved a 90-year-old man who called police because the meals-on-wheel service was suspended on a holiday, which he was not aware of. In terms of meeting the needs of a client, the nature of this case was quite similar to the robbery case (case 46), as both of them were out of food. The sixth case (case 48) on sexual assault in an elderly home raised the concern of safety and security inside the home as residents were vulnerable, and lack of privacy in some homes was a cause of fear. The seventh case (case 49) was about a social security allowance; recipient was hiding his savings in order to be qualified for the allowance. Reasons for fraud of welfare allowance could be many, and in the present case, the man said the money saved was for his daughter’s university education.
The last case (case 50) was of a retiree expressing his views about the asset-check for the application of old age allowance in a radio phone-in program (Lee, 2015, p. 151). This was an everyday morning radio program providing a channel for all citizens to express their views about Hong Kong and government policies. In Hong Kong, people who were aged 70 and more were eligible for the Old Age Allowance (OAA, also known as fruit money) and there was no need for checking assets. OAA is a noncontributory allowance; however, if one is aged 65–69, he/she, in order to be eligible, has to go through an asset-check. The person who called the phone-in program was 69 years old and he asked to abolish the asset-check so that he could have the allowance before attaining 70 years of age.
Summarizing, these 50 cases urged us to take a serious look at the problem. There is no doubt that their social support network, as well as the resources they can use, were limited. They were facing precarity of their own livelihood. In other words, they were socially isolated and what they had experienced was the reality of an informal insecurity welfare regime, rather than an informal security welfare regime. In relation to aging carer, some of the cases echo what Ikels observed in the 1980s of Hong Kong society about an aging mother tending her disabled daughter that ‘the family gets little respite from the constant attendance such a person may require. Not surprisingly many old people live in dread of becoming such burdens’ (
Another aspect of the 50 cases is how different government departments discharged their duties and their related policy and management. Contemporary society is heavily involved with government activities though some are more explicit than the others. Among the 50 cases, 3 common concerns can be identified, and they are government’s policy and management (P), older people employment (E) and care work for the old, frail, disabled or mentally challenged (C). The relationship between these cases and their common concerns are presented in
Three types of mentality regarding consuming social service were found in this study. Firstly, in the case of housing and home relocation (case 1 and 2), aged home admission (case 3 and 4), and jade street trader (case 5), all committed suicide, while social security assistance recipient (case 8) attempted suicide. They all wanted to express their dissatisfaction with the government’s policy decisions. They were the “resistance” type of senior citizens who had tried to defend what they think was correct for them by putting their lives on stake. Cases of convenience shop robbery (case 46) and the radio phone-in program participant (case 50) were good examples to show that they were not silent partners of present society.
Contrary to the individual “resistance” type, the second type representing elements of acquiescence the acceptance of the way they were being treated. Most of the cases (case 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 and 32) involving caring for one’s family members without objection and yet with consent are examples of the acquiescent type. It is especially with cases 18, 19, 20, and 21 that with inadequate support from the government, aged parents with mentally-ill adult child would consider their family situation as personal responsibility and to accept the caring role accordingly. The acquiescent type implied certain amount of self-reliance.
Thirdly, a sense of self-reliance also influenced the use of social services. In this study self-reliance refers to one’s tendency to seek personal problem-solving rather than seeking outside help. Among the 50 cases studied, most of them expressed certain amount of self-reliance. There is the possibility that they are overly self-reliant without considering their own limitations. Besides, in cases relating to work and employment (9 cases), we note of a paradox that for those who continued to work so as not to depend on public assistance, some were charged for violating the laws.
In a study on Hong Kong’s older people,
There were four other factors that could undermine potential users’ motivation in consuming government provisions. Firstly, social stigma as relating to government provisions would deter potential applicant and enhance social exclusion; second factor was financial affordability; third, the administrative factor, such as the interviewing and screening process, and a long waiting-list would discourage applicants; and fourthly, it was noted that even if services were available, they might not be able to meet the needs of users as experienced by the husband who killed his wife and reported to the police.
However, it would be a fact of life that all these 50 cases were personal tragedies or misfortune of isolated incidents. It would simply be a natural “age pain” as a matter of growing and becoming old. On the other hand, there is no denying that these 50 cases were profound “expression of sufferings generated by an ageist context which maybe compounded by other forms of social suffering” (
The foundation of Hong Kong is built on the principle of fiscal austerity. After long years of practice, 20 years of the government of HKSAR and 150 years of the British colonial administration, it is necessary to reconsider the harmful effects of the market and its related residual welfare system.
Lastly, in the case of aging policy and the practice of fiscal austerity in Hong Kong, Tolstoy’s observation (at the beginning of this article) may take on a twist that “most unhappy families are alike because of the lack of community and residential support services.”
There are several limitations to this study. First, the 50 cases represented a wide range of life situations which cannot be fully dealt with in an article of this length. Second, the study of suicidal cases had the difficulty of explaining the etiology of suicidal behavior. The explanation of suicidal causal relationship between macro and micro levels, personal and familial, or the disease and treatment/curing method could be speculative. Third, some of the newspaper reports on suicides were the factual description of cases. For example, in the case of long-term illness, the description was general and not specific. The term “long-term illness” or geriatric disease is a summary description and speaks less of the cases, and at times not even the name of the disease or diagnosis was mentioned. However, it could be a matter of privacy that the information was deliberately provided descriptively.
Types of Incidents According to Gender, Age, and the Nature of Incident, 1997–2017
Case | Gender | Age (years) | Nature of incident |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Male | 80 | Housing relocation |
2 | Male | 70 | Home allocation |
3 | Female | 80 | Aged home admission |
4 | Male | 76 | Aged home admission |
5 | Male | 76 | A jade hawker set himself ablaze inside a court after confiscation of goods |
6 | Male | 74 | A youth center cleaner committed suicide in the center on the eve of his retirement by burning charcoal in an enclosed space |
7 | Male | 65 | Long-term illness |
Case | Gender | Age (years) | Nature of incident |
---|---|---|---|
8 | Male | 60 | A retiree set himself ablaze outside a Social Security Appeal Board office to protest delay of payment |
9 | Male | 67 | Attempted suicide after frightened by the death of his spouse |
10 | Male | 62 | Long-term illness |
Case | Gender | Age (years) | Nature of incident |
---|---|---|---|
11 | M/F | 80/80 | Long-term illness |
12 | M/F | 67/70 | A man with walking problem hanged himself after murdering his frail wife at home |
13 | M/F | 58/56 | Murdered demented wife at home, then killed himself by jumping from the window |
Case | Gender | Age (years) | Nature of Incident |
---|---|---|---|
14 | M/F | 79/75 | Long-term illness; couple attempted suicide by drug and burning charcoal |
Case | Gender | Age (years) | Nature of incident |
---|---|---|---|
15 | M/M | 47/80 | A son with depression pushed his wheelchair-bound paralyzed father into the sea |
16 | M/F | 50/83 | A mentally ill son threw himself and his mother in harbor death plunge |
17 | M/F | 80/76 | Man murdered his stroke-suffering wife at home and reported to the police |
Case | Gender | Age (years) | Nature of incident |
---|---|---|---|
18 | M/F | 63/90 | A live-in mentally ill son killed his demented mother at home |
19 | M/F | 58/85 | A live-in mentally ill son jailed for brutal attack on his mother |
20 | M/M | 24/76 | A live-in mentally ill son attacked his father |
21 | M/F | 44/72 | A live-in mentally ill son abused his mother |
22 | M/M | 50/96 | A welfare recipient chopped his drug-addict son for theft at home |
23 | M/F | 52/85 | An alcoholic son street-begging with his wheelchair-bound mother |
Case | Gender | Age (years) | Nature of incident |
---|---|---|---|
24 | M/F | 74/72 | An elderly couple died in their public housing unit, discovered after two days |
25 | M/F | 76/74 | Husband passed away suddenly leaving bed-ridden wife, who died afterwards |
26 | M | 70 | A live-alone elderly was found dead when body decomposed |
27 | M | 82 | A live-alone elderly was found dead by a renovation worker |
Case | Gender | Age (years) | Nature of incident |
---|---|---|---|
28 | M/F | 88/85 | Husband died suddenly while his mentally ill wife did nothing |
29 | M/M | 84/61 | A wheelchair-bound elderly starved to death when his caregiver died suddenly |
30 | M/F | 55/82 | An autistic son sought no help while mother died suddenly |
Case | Gender | Age (years) | Nature of incident |
---|---|---|---|
31 | F/M | 47/80 | Daughter quit work to take care of her sick father died suddenly |
32 | M/F | 60/82 | A wheelchair-bound 60-year-old son was cared by his 82-year-old mother |
Case | Gender | Age (years) | Nature of incident |
---|---|---|---|
33 | M | 66 | A dementia-suffering man was trapped in a park fence overnight |
34 | M | 82 | A dementia-suffering man went missing while going out |
35 | M | 88 | A dementia-suffering man in a home wounded two coresidents, aged 80 and 84 |
Case | Gender | Age (years) | Nature of incident |
---|---|---|---|
36 | M | 69 | Charged for illegal street-trading, selling tissue paper |
37 | M | 72 | Charged for illegal street-trading, selling egg puff cake |
38 | M | 73 | A security guard was arrested and jailed for using a fake ID |
39 | M | 75 | A taxi driver was killed during a road accident |
40 | M | 69 | A truck driver was hurt during a road accident |
41 | F | 66 | A female postal courier was knocked down by a truck during work |
42 | M | 70 | A worker hurt himself while moving a refrigerator to a shop all by himself |
Case | Gender | Age (years) | Nature of incident |
---|---|---|---|
43 | M | 68 | Carried out arson attack in MTR station, 14 injured |
44 | M | 60 | Carried out arson attack inside an MTR train, 18 injured |
Case | Gender | Age (years) | Nature of incident |
---|---|---|---|
45 | M | 70 | Caught for theft of a pack of pork-ribs in a supermarket |
46 | M | 78 | Caught for threatening a convenience shop assistant with a knife because of hunger delay of social security payment |
Case | Gender | Age (years) | Nature of incident |
---|---|---|---|
47 | M | 90 | A starving man called police because meal-on-wheel delivery was suspended on a holiday |
Case | Gender | Age (years) | Nature of incident |
---|---|---|---|
48 | F | 81 | A 81-year-old woman was sexually assaulted in a private nursing home |
Case | Gender | Age (years) | Nature of incident |
---|---|---|---|
49 | M | 67 | A social security recipient cheated welfare department by hiding up his savings |
Case | Gender | Age | Nature of incident |
---|---|---|---|
50 | M | 69 | A 69-year-old man criticized asset-check for old age allowance in a radio phone-in program |
Among the cases, 9 government departments and 3 NGOs were involved. The Government departments include Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, Magistrate, Housing and Hospital Authority, Department of Health, Social Welfare, Police, Labour and Transport department. Some of the cases had more than one common concern. For example, in illegal street-trading, it was the about older people employment and the policy and management of street-trading by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. Care-work involved both social and health care, physical and mental.
Individual (case number, incident, gender, age, P, E, & C) | Couple/family (case number, incident, gender, age, P, E, & C) | Parent/adult children (case number, incident, gender, age, behavior, P, E, & C) | Others: (case number, incident, gender, age, P, E, & C) |
---|---|---|---|
1 Committed suicide due to housing relocation M 80, P 2 Committed suicide due to home relocation M 70, P 3 Committed suicide due to home admission, F 80, P 4 Committed suicide due to home admission, M 76, P 5 Committed suicide due to confiscation of goods because illegal street-trading, M 76, PE 6 Youth center janitor committed suicide, right after retirement, M 74, E 7 Committed suicide due to long-term-illness M65, C 8 Attempted suicide after delay of public assistance payment, M 60, P 9 Attempted suicide after frightened by wife’s death, M 67, C 10 Attempted suicide due to long-term-illness, M 62, C 26 Lived alone death M 70, C 27 Lived alone death M 82, C 36 Illegal street-trading, selling tissue paper, M 69, PE 37 Illegal street-trading, selling egg puff cake, M 72, PE 38 Fake ID card for work, M 73, PE 39 Taxi driver accident, M 75, E 40 Truck driver accident M 69, E 41 Courier work accident F 66, E 42 Work accident, M 70, E 43 Arson in MTR M 68, P 44 Arson in MTR M 60, P 45 Food stealing, M 70, P 46 Public assistance stopped triggered shop robbery, M 78, P 47 No meals-on-wheels service on holiday, dial 999 M 90, P 49 Welfare fraud, M 67, P 50 Phone-in, asset-check M 69, P |
11 Committed suicide due to long-term illness, M, F, 80/80, C 12 Homicide-suicide, M, F 67/70, C 13 Homicide-suicide, M, F 58/56, C 14 Attempted suicide due to long-term-illness M, F79/75, C 17 Mercy-killing, husband, M 80, killed wife, 76, reported to police afterwards. PC 24 Couple died unnoticed, M, F 74/72, PC 25 Husband, 76, died suddenly, then bed-ridden wife, 74, died due to lack of care, PC 28 Husband, 88, died suddenly, MI wife, 85, offered no help, PC 29 Caregiver, 61, died suddenly, on wheelchair care receiver 84 starved till death PC MTR = Mass transit railway MF = Male/female PC (5), C (4) |
15 Son, 47, with depression thrown his paralyzed father, 80, into the sea, PC 16 MI son, 50, threw himself and his mother, 83, into harbor, PC 18 MI son, 63, killed demented mother, 90, at home, PC 19 Mother, 85, attacked brutally by MI son, 58, at home, PC 20 Father, 76, attacked by MI son, 24, at home, PC 21 Mother, 72, was abused by MI son, 44, at home, PC 22 Father 96 chopped drug addict son, 50, for theft at home, PC 23 Alcoholic son, 52, street-begging with mom, 85, PC 30 An autistic son, 55, sought no help while mother, 82, died suddenly, PC 31 Daughter, 47, cared for her father, 80, died suddenly, PC 32 Mother, 82, cared for her wheelchair-bound son, 60, PC |
33 A demented man, 66, trapped in a park fence overnight, PC 34 A demented man, 82, lost his way to home, PC 35 A demented resident, 88, wounded two residents, 80 & 84 in a home, PC 48 Woman, 81, was sexually assaulted in a home, PC |
P (12) E (5) C (5) PE (4) | #PC (20) | #PC (11) | #PC (4) |
The author would like to acknowledge his gratitude for the valuable suggestions made by an anonymous reviewer.