Extreme Abuse Revealed in Thai Elder and Psychiatric Care Facility
Author: Sarahelena Marrapodi
October 30, 2026
HRRC strongly calls for the Thai government to not only continue its investigation into care and psychiatric facilities, but to implement recurring inspections conducted by the Department of Health Service Support for all 4,000 care facilities across Thailand, checking for compliance with the 2016 Health Establishment Act B.E. 2559. HRRC condemns any acts of physical detainment, cruelty, bodily harm, and chemical control committed against any persons.
On October 5, Mae Phat gave a live interview on Hone Krase after being released from an abusive care facility in Kanchanaburi province. The show subsequently went on to capture footage from the facility, interviews between Mae and her son—who organized her detainment—and the son’s apology to his mom, where he stated he was unaware of the horrid conditions of the nursing home. The son and his wife ordered that Mae be abducted by strongmen and sent to the home in hopes of seizing her business and assets.
Mae detailed the numerous horrors she experienced, including beatings, humiliation, and forced consumption of sleeping pills, all grave human rights violations. She stated that the nurses and care workers would use sleeping pills whenever the residents would speak out against their conditions, ask for something, or demand medicine, as a way to placate and control them. The residents were forced to dance to entertain the workers and would be flogged with wooden paddles or would not be given dinner if they did not comply. The residents were also given medications beyond sleeping pills that were not properly prescribed, experiencing pain and unintended side effects. The owner of Sothornchai Nursing Home, Ying Pornsermsiri, dismissed their requests to go to the hospital.
When authorities walked through the facility, they noticed multiple caged rooms, windowless rooms, and bars placed over beds. Ying Maew defended the cages as a “necessity” to protect mentally ill patients from self-harm and to protect the other residents. The Thai Department of Health immediately rebuked this. Ying Maew further defended her actions explaining that, with budget constraints and a number of residents that outnumbered the caretakers, some of the images may appear grave, when in reality everyone was well taken care of. She insisted that all accusations made regarding the abuse were false, and that she hopes she can reopen the facility again. Thailand’s Department of Health revoked the facility’s license and shut it down shortly thereafter, on October 7, 2026. It began moving residents to government-sponsored facilities or reconnecting them to family members.
Thai officials from the Central Investigation Bureau began an investigation into 1,203 other registered care facilities across the country following this incident. While a necessary start, this does not cover the other thousands of unregistered, unlicensed facilities where regulation is less likely to protect residents.
The case of Sothornchai Nursing Home is reflective of a broader global trend: elder abuse is growing due to an increased need for elder care and related facilities. Underequipped staff are charged with treating and caring for one of the most vulnerable populations of society, and a lack of preparation and standardized controls leads to verbal, psychological, physical, and other types of abuse. Elder abuse rates are high across Asia, indicating a need for institutional and regional checks ensuring bodily integrity and psychological care, not only as a moral obligation, but as a fundamental human right.
Glossary
Abduct – to seize and take away by force
Assets – the entire property of a person applicable or subject to the payment of debts
Bodily integrity – the right of each human being to self-determination over their own body. It considers an unconsented physical intrusion as a human rights violation.
Caretakers – one that gives physical or emotional support
Chemical control/restraint – the use of chemical agents to induce a sedative effect
Elder abuse – Elder abuse is an intentional or negligent act by any person that causes harm or a serious risk of harm to an older adult. It usually consists of five subtypes: physical, neglect, psychological, financial exploitation, and sexual abuse
Elderly – being past middle age
Flog – to beat or hit something
Forced consumption – a situation where Person(s) A forced or demanded Person B to consume a specific substance against Person B's will
Fundamental – serving as an original or necessary foundation/source
Government-sponsored – supported or paid for by a government
Human right – a basic right that many societies believe every person should have
Humiliation – to reduce someone to a lower position in one's own eyes or others' eyes, to make them ashamed or embarrassed
Inspection – to view closely with a critical eye
Paddle – an implement often with a short handle and a broad flat blade that is used for stirring, mixing, or hitting
Psychiatric – a branch of medicine that deals with mental, emotional, or behavioral disorders
Psychological – of, relating to, or occurring in the mind
Recurring – happens repeatedly or multiple times
Residents – one who lives in a place for an extended period of time
Restriction of movement – restrict a person's movements intentionally and unlawfully in such manner as to interfere substantially with his liberty by moving him from one place to another
Revoked – to annul or reverse something by taking it back
Strongmen – one who leads or controls by force
Torture – the infliction of intense pain (as from burning, crushing, or wounding) to punish or coerce
