She'll Dump the Old Lady for $1,500 a Month
By J. Grant Swank Jr. (08/04/08)
Here is an example of senior abuse.
An elderly woman is 95. She lives in a health care unit.
Her doctor son was killed in a tragic accident. His well-to-do widow promised $1,500 per month toward her mother-in-law’s health care unit expenses. That was promised as long as the mother-in-law lived.
In the meantime, the young widow adopted several oriental children.
She was left well off due to her husband being a doctor. Now that he is deceased, she is all the more well endowed due to his insurance.
Now a couple of years have passed since her husband’s tragic death. She realizes that her mother-in-law is not on the verge of death. In fact, the elder woman is healthy and quite mentally alert. In other words, there are no medical signs that the 95-year-old will be dying shortly.
With that, the wealthy younger woman has concluded to break her promise to her mother-in-law. In several months she’s going to stop her gift of $1,500 a month toward the senior’s health unit care.
That means that the 95-year-old will no longer have her single room in the health care unit. She will be sidelined to a lesser facility, the latter no doubt being a shock to her entire system.
Not only will the limited confines be a shock, but the betrayal of her daughter-in-law’s promise broken will prove a greater shock.
Fact: the young widow has concluded that the older woman has not died soon enough.
Fact: the young widow obviously reasons that it is virtuous to care for adopted oriental children but not virtuous to continue care for an elderly mother-in-law.
Fact: there is no one else in the elder’s family to pick up the $1,500 per month tab.
When I learned of this travesty, I could not help but conclude how callused persons can be. Further, this daughter-in-law testifies to being a born again Christian. In addition, she knows that if her husband were still alive, he would not terminate any monetary care for his mother.
At the moment, I personally am stunned and saddened greatly concerning this widow’s selfish display.
I have no practical idea how to aid this 95-year-old who is soon to discover what is going to be laid upon her, as if she needed a betrayal of this dimension at her age.
I have been in Christian ministry for half a century; yet it never ceases to amaze me how certain persons who witness to being followers of Jesus can play out such hardened hypocrisy.
I am resolved to pray earnestly for God to intervene for He has promised to love dearly His own grace children till their deaths. In some way, God will do just that for this elder believer.
In the meantime, the Bible promises that God disciplines those He loves. Therefore, God will indeed discipline in his own terms the greedy wealthy widow who has turned her back against her mother-in-law.
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