wheel chair ‘road rage’

I got a call tonight from Patti’s care facility. They have to report any ‘incident’ to a resident’s family.

 

It seems Patti got into an altercation with an 85 yr old guy with no legs and one eye. Staff responded to the yelling and cursing to find both slapping at each other from their respective wheel chairs.

 

(Must have been like two warships of old firing broadsides at each other.)

 

Patti claimed he had started it by grabbing her arm. However she could not remember which arm or where and upon inspection no mark of any kind was visible.

 

Her opponent claimed Patti had started it when she had “run over” him. However he has no legs making that somewhat impossible.

 

Patti's opponent has only one eye is a double amputee and 85 yrs of age. Even though Patti is only 48 yrs old, she cannot see well enough and has no eye hand coordination. Staff felt it was unlikely any blows were landed. Neither injuries nor marks were found on either combatant.

 

Questioning other residents in the proximity determined only that most enjoyed the excitement yet that most could not see that well nor really remember what had happened.

 

Staff concluded that most probably they accidentally collided in their wheel chairs since neither can see well. Each apparently took this to be an aggressive act and all hell broke loose.

 

They were separated, distance put between them, and peace returned to the unit

 

(I never anticipated wheel chair ‘road rage’ as a factor in a long term care facility. And it was challenging to keep from chuckling as the nurse so professionally recounted the above story to me.)