Family says small option home abandoned man with Down syndrome at hospital – CBC

‘We try our best to keep his cheer up and to make sure he knows that we care for him’

Feb 17, 2026

The sister of a Cape Breton man with Down syndrome says her brother’s small option home has abandoned him at a hospital.

For 20 years, Brent Beaton has lived at Koster Huis, a home in Mabou, N.S., operated by the County of Inverness Municipal Housing Corporation, a non-profit licensed and funded by the province.

Beaton, 60, and three other people with disabilities lived at the home, which had two staff members on site most of the time to look after them.

But on Dec. 22, Laureen Murphy said she received an email from Koster Huis stating that her brother was being taken to hospital in Inverness by ambulance because his temperature was fluctuating, his skin was discoloured and his urine was foul-smelling.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/down-syndrome-small-option-home-cape-breton-9.7087132