A Mexican bank has been accused of lacking sensitivity after insisting that a bed-bound 96-year-old woman be brought to a physical branch to confirm her identity in order to release her pension.

Photos and video clips of an elderly woman being transported to a BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria) bank branch in Oaxaca, Mexico, on an ambulance stretcher have been going viral on Mexican social media and sparking outrage among the general public. 96-year-old Fidelia Vásquez Nuño cannot move due to her advanced age and various illnesses, but despite her son’s attempts to file the necessary paperwork with the bank to verify her identity, she had to be brought to a local branch to correct a glitch in her biometric registration that had prevented her from cashing her pension for six months.

“It’s an outrage. We’ve submitted everything: official documents, powers of attorney, and her legal representative. Yet, they’ve demanded that she come in person, even though she’s clearly not fit enough,” said Gilberto Ayala, the woman’s son. “The BBVA branch manager told us that the pension payment is suspended and that we need to comply with more requirements to be able to reactivate the payment. It’s an ordeal.”

“They’ve paraded us from office to office,” the woman’s daughter, Ernestia, added. “They tell us that her facial features don’t match those on the previous record, without considering that my mother is 96 years old. Of course she’s changed physically; who doesn’t change in decades?”

 

The elderly woman’s family told local reporters that the bank offered no alternatives to avoid relocation, despite the woman’s very delicate condition. Photos and videos of her waiting to have her biometric details checked by the bank have been circulating online for days and have attracted widespread criticism. Many accused the bank of lacking empathy and violating the rights of the elderly.

Following their treatment by BBVA, the 96-year-old woman’s family filed complaints with the National Human Rights Commission, the Ombudsman’s Office of the people of Oaxaca, and the National Commission and Defense of Users of Financial Services.