Caregivers Disciplined for Mistreatment of Patients’ Comfort Dolls

Two nursing home employees in Manchester, England were recently suspended from work for mistreating the comfort dolls of their elderly dementia patients. The Ashbourne House sometimes gives residents with dementia these baby dolls as a part of their treatment. Recently, some anecdotal evidence has suggested that therapy dolls help people with dementia to connect to a happier time of their lives and give them concrete tasks to do each day. They care for the dolls and cuddle them as they would a real child, which can increase the seniors’ happiness and positive behaviors.

Because the comfort dolls used in doll therapy represent actual babies, they are not mere toys. Thus, it is quite cruel and distressing for any senior to have his or her comfort doll taken away and mistreated. The two employees who abused the dolls did so by boiling one in a pot, hanging one by a noose, and putting one through a dryer, and it was all caught on video. In at least one case, the resident was present, understood what was happening, and was visibly upset by it. Although this kind of behavior may not seem that harmful, it constitutes an emotional abuse of a vulnerable person and is particularly awful because the dolls are meant to evoke something safe and happy for the patients.

No charges have been filed to date, but the Health and Care Professions Council is currently investigating the incident, and the police and the victims’ families have been notified.