A Man Was Suspected of Not Being able to Withstand the Pressures of Taking Care of His Own Elderly Father, He’d Strangled His Father to Death, then Committed Suicide

Another tragedy, caused by the ill set up system of long-term care, from the Front Page Sections, translated…

A man, Wu from Kaohsiung is unemployed and unmarried, he was staying at home long-term caring for his elderly father.  After Wu’s father’s car wreck, it’d left him immobilized, two nights ago, Wu left a note then left home, he was suspected of strangling his own father to death inside the car, then, suffocated himself to death afterwards, the families said it was the economics and the pressures from taking care of his ill father long-term that’s, caused this tragedy to occur.

The man, Wu (age 55) from Dashu had never married and all of his siblings are all married and left home, it was only him and his elderly eighty-five-year-old father living together.  Two evenings ago, Wu took his father out by car, and left a note that said, “I took dad, I will take all the responsibilities of what happens.”

The family members who lived close by came home yesterday and found the note, immediately notified the police.  At the same time, the officers from another subprecinct was notified, that Wu had attempted suicide at the old steel bridge, they’d searched close by, found Wu’s father dead in the car, the police weren’t able to prevent the tragedies from happening.

The investigations said, that the father and son pair arrived into the parking lot at around six last night, because Wu’s father was immobilized, Wu was suspected of strangling his own father to death first, then, walked on top of the bridge, and then, hung himself to commit suicide on the old steel bridge.  A couple were taking a stroll underneath and found him, they were shocked.  The eldest son of the family said, that his younger brother was unemployed, and because the burdens from taking care of their father became too heavy for him to handle, that was what caused him to commit suicide.

The deaths in the family was known by the neighborhood, and everybody was surprised.  A neighbor who knew the family well told, that the younger son is introverted, that he’d worked as a construction worker in the past, and in recent years, his father fell ill, he’d been the one, caring for him, he’d often driven his father to places to take their strolls together, he’d once heard him tell of how hard it’d become, for him to look after his own father, but he’d not told anybody in his family about it.

The man in charge of the local district, Chen told, that the family wasn’t registered as a low-income household, that it’d not been listed as a high-risk family, there wasn’t any instance of abuse; they’d sent officials to see how the family was doing, and to help with he final affairs; it’s the end of the year soon, the men in charge of the borough got together, and they’d asked the people in charge of the borough to pay special attention to elderly who lived alone, and pay visits to the families on the lower end of the socioeconomic status, to pay more attention to elderly who lived alone.

And so, this was, another tragedy that stemmed from the lacking of the long-term care systems, without the needed support, it’s never easy, especially if you’re the only one taking care of your own elderly parent on your own, the pressures will be harder and harder by the day, and if you don’t find a viable outlet, then, tragedies like these will keep on happening.