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Exposure: Nursing caregivers upload video on TikTok that ridicule the elderly and violate their privacy

Published on Journalism, for a Change in 6/30/20. Read original article here.

A Filipino caregiver dances to the sounds of joyful music, with an elderly man sitting in the background who does not understand or is shocked by what is happening: this is what dozens of ticketing videos of foreign caregivers in Israel look like. The Ministry of Welfare is investigating the matter, and a criminal case has already been opened in the matter.

Angelina (pseudonym) probably really likes to shoot ticketing videos, because she stars in quite a few of them. She appears on screen in a tiny, tight dress: a spaghetti tank top and shorts, with cheerful music in the background, sometimes in English and sometimes in Tagalog. She shakes her ass in a networking dance in front of the cellphone camera, turns around, smiles excessively, pulls a strand of hair.

This video could have been another one of millions of similar videos of young women in Tiktok, but Angelina lives and works in Israel as a nursing caregiver, and she brings the work with her to the social network as well: The same woman who believes in her safety and privacy.

Angelina is one drop in the sea of ​​videos of caregivers documenting themselves and their patients without any permission from the patients or their family members. The format is quite fixed: the therapist dances or performs excessive movements in front of the patient to the sounds of joyful music, when it is also clear to the layman that the patient does not understand what is happening in front of him and is shocked by what is happening.

A pet in Tagalog

In one of the videos I saw the documented elderly woman sitting on a couch in the posture of a man who had lost consciousness and his body had fallen forward. Being in such a posture for long minutes would cause her pain.

My reflex as a spectator caring for a nursing disabled person was to wonder why no one is laying the patient on the couch or putting her to bed, but instead I have to watch the elderly woman’s caregiver dance in front of the camera with cheerful giggles.

In another video the camera focuses on an elderly man lying on a single bed screaming for help. The caregiver approaches him, but instead of offering him help, she documents herself making faces at the camera.

The trend of these videos in Tiktok is called PEP, a pet in Tagalog, the language spoken in the Philippines. PEP is also the nickname that some therapists use for internal conversations and the vibrant Facebook groups they run, to define their patients.

The therapists add tags to videos that are an indication that they were taken in Israel: place of residence and words in Hebrew written in English (SAVTALE). There is no limit to viewing the videos – they are visible to all.

A feeling of physical terror 

I would like to deviate for a moment from the accepted writing pattern in articles that seek to bring news interest to the public’s notice, because I am unable to watch these videos with the required journalistic composure. The viewing experience was one of the most chilling and disgusting I have ever experienced.

I spent hundreds, maybe even thousands of hours with nursing patients and witnessed countless situations with elderly and young patients in which I was exposed to the various aspects of body betrayal and its deformities.

Indeed, over time what is terrifying for the first few times becomes a daily routine, but the thought that these situations will be documented and broadcast to millions of viewers is the nightmare of every person whose patient is dear to his heart.

The thought that these situations will be documented and broadcast to millions of viewers is the nightmare of every person whose patient is dear to his heart

Watching these videos I could not help but imagine my lover being documented by his veteran therapist in awkward situations without our knowledge and approval, and the feeling of horror was really physical.

Indeed, over time what is terrifying for the first few times becomes a daily routine, but the thought that these situations will be documented and broadcast to millions of viewers is the nightmare of every person whose patient is dear to his heart.

Watching these videos I could not help but imagine my lover being documented by his veteran therapist in awkward situations without our knowledge and approval, and the feeling of horror was really physical. 

“Do you know these videos?” I asked the therapist. “Yes, everyone knows,” he replied awkwardly. “Do you think they understand that this is a criminal offense?”. He stammered that he did not personally know the caregivers and did not know what they did or did not understand.

Weak reference 

One of the members of a group of activists with disabilities that I assist in the “Public Press Movement” and Link 20, was the first to inform me of the existence of the videos. Like me, she was horrified too. “We must contact the Ministry of Welfare and the Population Authority,” we told each other in the group, not knowing that such an application had already been made weeks ago and had received weak attention.