Letters to Editor - My Mother Died While We Were Looking For Her

Teresa from New York Writes ;

My mother died while we were looking for her. She was placed in a home for elderly and we were lead to believe that she was in her own home with a family member.

We live in the United States and mother lived in Spain, it was hard for us to afford to check on her so the family member took all of her money and sent her to a home for the poor elderly. We are all so broken up about this still,.she was an American citizen and she died overseas with none of her children to be by her side how cruel is that!

Elder abuse must stop,.and families need to watch over their elderly better,.we feel we should have called the authorities in Spain but now it is too late for that, she was only visiting her family member for a little while, like a vacation and we couldn't stop her from going to Spain, besides, who knew she would be financially abused?

Never assume that everything is OK,.always watch your elders like you would watch children, they are more vulnerable than most children because children have no money and she did. Keep up the great work in educating people on your blog, we wish we would have read a blog like this before our mother became a victim!
Thank you!

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Dear Teresa;

Guilt is something that we all feel when we are devastated by the wanton destruction of something we hold so sacred as a human life, especially one that is so close and dear to us as a loved family member.

Looking back in retrospect, there is always something we could-have, should-have, done to avert the tragedy, exploitation and often times the wanton murder of a loved one, a love one who in the authorities eyes would have died *anyway due to their advanced age and that does not warrant the **expense of an investigation of their abuse or the retribution of it's perpetrators.

Just like I wish some one had warned me, I wish I could have warned you through this blog, but who could have warned either of us, that a family member would exploit our love ones and then discard them like a broken doll and warehouse them to die quietly once they were of no use to them?