UNITED KINGDOM – A man whose elderly wife has been taken into care has threatened to go on hunger strike unless social workers let her return home.
Ousman Jatta took his dementia-suffering wife Beryl, 88, to Avon Lodge Care Centre in Bristol in February to allow him three weeks’ respite, but when he went to collect her, the home would not release her.
The 45-year-old supermarket security worker contacted social services, and said that he was told they thought he had left his wife.
“It was a weekend so I called social services on Monday morning and the only thing they told me was they thought I was tired and this and that and that I had left her.
“I have said in the past that I am tired and that some time in the future I might need to leave her, but I have never abandoned Beryl.”
He has threatened to go on a hunger strike if Bristol City Council doesn’t hand back his wife, who he says has pleaded to return home.
“TO ME BERYL IS NOT OLD, SHE IS A HUMAN BEING AND NO MATTER IF SHE IS OLD OR YOUNG SHE IS MY WIFE.
I WOULD NEVER NEGLECT BERYL. I LOVE BERYL. I’M FEELING BAD TO SEE HER IN A NURSING HOME WHILST I AM READY TO LOOK AFTER MY OWN WIFE.
AS SOON AS I CAME TO THIS COUNTRY I’M LOOKING AFTER HER AND NOTHING HAS HAPPENED TO HER.” – OUSMAN JATTA
Jatta met Beryl, a retired shopkeeper, in his native Gambia 17 years ago, marrying in 2002. The couple moved to the UK when she became ill in 2006.
He became her primary carer along with local authority carers, who visited during the day while he was at work.
The authority said it has now agreed an “appropriate care plan” but Mrs Jatta, a mother-of-two, is still not at home and her husband said he is confident the council will relent.
“They have used their power against me to keep my wife in a nursing home against her and my wishes,” he said.
A legal expert from Irwin Mitchell, who specialises in health and welfare, said social services don’t have the power to keep someone against their will.
A spokesman for Bristol City Council said: “We have been in regular contact with Mr Jatta over a period of time regarding his wife’s care and are pleased to have agreed an appropriate care plan with him which puts the best interests of Mrs Jatta first.” ITV
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