Two English caregivers were suspended after video surfaced this week appearing to show the workers torturing "comfort dolls" that the facility hands out to patients with dementia.
Video obtained by Manchester Evening News this week shows a worker at the Ashbourne House nursing home, which cares for up to 29 people over the age of 65, throwing one of the dolls on the floor and howling, "Die baby, die!" Photos posted by BBC also show dolls in various states of distress: boiling in a pot, hanging from a noose or tumbling in a dryer.
The nursing home uses doll therapy with dementia patients, and many of them consider the dolls to be "like their own babies," workers told the Manchester Evening News.
The photo of one of the dolls hanging was taken while its owner was asleep, but some of the doll torture reportedly occurred as a distraught patient looked on, according to the Daily Mail. The site reports that two employees were suspended.
Families of the victims have been notified, and the Health and Care Professions Council is investigating. Police in Manchester were also notified, but it was unclear whether charges would follow, according to the Evening News.
The caregivers have not been identified.
Ashbourne House was reprimanded last year over health code breaches after the Care Quality Commission investigated, according to the New York Daily News. The nature of the reprimand is unclear.