Video has been released that shows a man being punched repeatedly by a nursing home employee.
The family of 89-year-old Georges Karam, a dementia patient, released the video from Karam’s room at the Garry J. Armstrong long-term care center in Ottawa, Canada.
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The video shows the employee, Jie Xiao, hitting Karam 11 times.
Karam’s grandson, Daniel Nassrallah, shared his reaction to the footage with InsideEdition.com, Wednesday. “It was gut-wrenching,” he said. “Literally, my legs collapsed.”
Relatives of Karam said he had previously suffered numerous, unexplained injuries. Nassrallah said the facility “never really gave us an answer” about the bruises and cuts they found on Karam’s body.
With the center’s permission, a baseball-sized camera was installed on the wall facing Karam’s bed in February, said Nassrallah. He said the staff was told about the device.
A few weeks later, Nassrallah said, he and his wife were watching the footage from his grandfather’s room when they saw a caregiver enter and act aggressively.
“He threw him around the bed,” said Nassrallah. “My grandfather started to flail and tried to bat him away. Then he started punching my grandfather in the head.”
Nassrallah said Karam is non-verbal and confined to a wheelchair.
Xiao was fired from the center, and police are investigating whether other patients were harmed.
“The safety and well-being of all of our residents is our number one priority,” said Janice Burelle, the general manager of Ottawa Community and Social Services, to the Ottawa Citizen. “We take our commitment to safety seriously.”
Xiao was arrested.
He pleaded guilty to one count of assault on June 27 and is free on bail pending his sentencing hearing, said Nasrallah.
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