Against the backdrop of the Brazilian public policies designed to reduce the mistreatment of aged people, this article points to a lack of control and supervision of public agencies in geriatric houses and asylums, which stimulates the continuous creation of private establishments and their malfunction. The objective, here, is to analyze the conditions of institutionalization and the relations between the residents and the medical-technical staff of a private geriatric house. Pointing to the (non) response to basic needs and daily life of people who live in these institutions and, consequently, to the (un) care at the end of life, the article aims to demystify the perception that, because they are private, they give greater attention to their old residents.
mistreatment of the elderly; institutionalized care; violence against the elderly