With Nova Scotia as well as the rest of Canada's population turning gray, there is an urgent need to revise the province's outdated laws on incapacitated residents, said Nova Scotia Health Minister Chris d'Entremont. He is pushing for a legislation that would permit residents to appoint another person to make vital decisions concerning personal care if he becomes incapacitated.

Other Canadian provinces had gone ahead and made one. Alberta had a personal care directives law since 1997, British Columbia enacted one in 2000 and New Brunswick passed the Infirm Persons Act recently.

Nova Scotia's legislature has scheduled public hearings on a similar legislation, which seeks to define when is a person incapable of making competent decisions for himself.

Meanwhile, a recent York University study discovered increasing incidents of violence inflicted upon caregivers in Canadian nursing homes. According to the study, 43 percent of 415 caregivers employed at 71 nursing homes in Ontario, Nova Scotia and Manitoba reported physical and verbal abuse from elderly and demented residents. The negative responses were caused by the senior citizens' frustration with insufficient number of staff that led to lower level of health care.

Albert Banerjee, lead author of the study, said, "Our study finds that violence is a constant and ongoing part of working in Canadian long-term care facilities. The situation... is out of control."