Trigger warning: homicide-suicide
Genitori Tosti, COFACE Disability member organisation, calls upon the Italian Government and Parliament to take swift and responsible action to finalise the draft legislation on the recognition and support of family caregivers and to provide all the services necessary to ensure that those who care for their family members are never left alone.
The organisation released this statement after the tragic event of a homicide-suicide in Ortona (Abruzzo region), Italy, where a caregiver killed his brother. The caregiver left a note explaining the reasons behind the act, namely the impossibility of continuing to assist his brother and his imminent admission to a nursing home.
Earlier, in January 2022, Genitori Tosti published a book “L’esercito silenzioso – caregiver familiari” in which they devoted a chapter to this phenomenon and what it is caused by. They further explain in the book how it could be combated and resolved. The cause has a specific name, namely the ‘caregiver burden’, described by scientific studies. It can be defined as the strain or load borne by a person who cares for a family member with a chronic illness or disability, or who is elderly.[1]
Genitori Tosti states that the recognition of the role of the family caregiver, its protection and the necessary and adequate socio-medical and economic-financial support as a real worker can no longer wait. The responsibility for preventing a repetition of tragic events like this lies in the hands of the Government and Parliament.
Read the original article (in Italian) here.
Find out more about Genitori Tosti here.
[1] Caregiver burden: A concept analysis
