Daughter of aged care resident with COVID-19 fears her mum will be ‘inhumanely’ sedated

A woman whose 54-year-old mother is a resident at a coronavirus-stricken aged care home says she’s terrified her mum will be sedated.

Tracey’s mum tested positive to COVID-19 at Glenlyn Aged Care in Glenroy on Monday.

The aged care facility sent a letter to the families of residents on Wednesday, informing them that a hospital had told them to sedate patients who could not be confined to their rooms, rather than trying to get them admitted to hospital.

Tracey is fearful her mother, who has an acquired brain injury and breathing issues, may be one of those residents.

“I haven’t been told that my mother has been sedated as yet but the nurses in charge of looking after my mother have expressed to me that they’re having trouble isolating her in her room,” she told Neil Mitchell.

“If her behaviour gets to the state where they need to sedate her, I don’t want that for her.

“People with breathing difficulties are not going to cope well with sedation.”

Tracey says staff at the aged care home don’t want to sedate residents, but they’ve got few options.

“It’s not humane, it’s sick,” she said.

“It breaks my heart.”

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Premier Daniel Andrews addressed aged care sedation concerns at today’s COVID-19 press conference.

He says residents who are better off in hospital will go there.

“The healthcare needs of your loved one, will drive, exclusively, any decisions made about whether they stay in place in their home, or whether they come to a hospital,” he said.

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