Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/659044
5 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 30 MARCH 2016 News State to take backseat on disinheritance plans for abusers Parliamentary secretary for the elderly says state should help testators leave abusive and neglectful relatives out of their will, without making such decisions for them TIM DIACONO A proposed law will not allow the government to decide which people are left out of testators' wills, par- liamentary secretary for the elderly Justyne Caruana said. Caruana drew harsh criticism last September when she announced that people who severely abuse or neglect their elderly parents could lose their rights to inheritance. In such cases, the state would take charge of the elderly people's assets upon death, she had said. "The Bill aims to protect vul- nerable adults, but it is proving very complicated," Caruana told programme host Saviour Balzan on Monday night's edition of 'Re- porter'. "However, we are proposing that testators get to cut off relatives from their wills in cases of abuse, that can be physical, psychological or financial. "We must be very careful in that the state should only get to play a limited role and should in no way get to decide for the testators who gets left out of their will. However, the state should provide all the nec- essary tools for testators to defend themselves." Monday night's programme fo- cused on dementia, which the World Health Organisation has de- scribed as a "silent tsunami" that is expected to have a massive impact on governments' healthcare budg- ets. According to a 2012 study by uni- versity lecturer Anthony Scerri, around 10,000 people in Malta will have dementia by 2030 – a sig- nificant increase from the current 6,000. Caruana noted that Malta last year launched a national dementia strategy, which aims to pre-empt this problem by, as much as possible, placing the onus on dementia patient care on families and commu- nities. "We are training in- formal carers on how to look after people with dementia, and recently set up a dementia hel- pline and a dementia intervention team," she said. "Of course, in some cases, the care provided by communities is not enough and the elderly people have to get transferred to a home." She added that the government has started activities within old people's homes to help them keep in touch with reality, tapping into their long-term memory – that re- mains functional through the ear- lier stages of dementia. "For example, we read Wenzu u Rozi to them, and have reached a deal with the Manoel Theatre for old music to be played in the homes's corridors. An active age- ing unit at St Vincent de Paul helps people with dementia out on a one to one basis. Anthony Scerri, also a guest on the show, urged the public not to treat their elderly relatives as chil- dren. "Around 70% of dementia pa- tients will display some sort of behavioural symptom, such as ag- gression," he said. "However, lash- ing out at them will only aggravate the situation. If you cannot com- municate with them on a short- term memory basis, then it could be a good strategy to communicate over long-term memory, such as by showing them photo albums and talking about the past. "The solution is intergenera- tional solidarity – for the cur- rent younger generations to realize that they will be old and in need of care in the future as well." 'An artistic voyage inspired by Karin Grech patients' On 'Reporter', Balzan also inter- viewed Alfred Buttigieg – whose play Mela Hawn Xi Manikomju re- cently hit St James Cavalier. The play tells the emotional story of four elderly women dealing with life in a retirement home. Buttigieg said that he was inspired to write the play after having encountered four elderly people at Karin Grech Hos- pital, where his mother had been temporarily staying. "I came across four elderly women with unusual characters in a room, which is what set me off on my ar- tistic voyage," he said. "I started taking notes; I started observing them, their relatives, the nurses. I could see their frustration, their sense of helplessness, solitude and total dependence, and it made me emotional. I decided to write a play to raise awareness about their situ- ation, to show that there are certain things – such as their frustration at requiring constant attention – that they are still suffering, despite hav- ing the best possible care." Justyne Caruana drew harsh criticism when she announced that people who severely abuse or neglect their elderly parents could lose their rights to inheritance