Elderly Woman, 63, Infected with Serious Disease from New Husband, Unable to Get Family Care, Seeks Temple Refuge but Hits Religious Rules
A 63-year-old woman infected with a serious disease was left at a Pathum Thani temple by her granddaughter after her family refused to care for her, but temple rules prohibit women from residing alone on the grounds. The abbot expressed sym
An elderly woman facing hardship has just discovered she contracted a serious disease from her new husband. With her children and grandchildren unable to provide care and her son homeless, she placed her final hope on asking her granddaughter to drive her to a temple, seeking what she hoped would be a final refuge in life. However, she has encountered restrictions under religious department rules.
On May 18, 2025, at Sai Hairm Temple in Lam Luka district, Pathum Thani province, Phra Ajarn Ard Sophon Pattavet, the temple's abbot and district religious official, revealed that temple staff notified him that security cameras captured a white sedan entering the temple grounds at 9:12 AM that morning. The car parked in front of the abbot's residence before letting the elderly woman struggle to get her belongings out of the vehicle and then driving away immediately.
When temple staff and monks questioned her, they learned she was a 63-year-old from Prachuap Khiri Khan province suffering from a serious illness and mobility issues requiring a walking stick. She explained that in 2018, she lived with a new husband at a temple in Prachuap Khiri Khan province. When he later died from the same serious disease, she discovered she had been infected by him.
After that, the temple could no longer accommodate her due to religious regulations prohibiting women from residing alone within temple grounds. She then sought shelter with her sister and her daughter, whom the sister was raising. However, she was asked to leave after a short time. She then moved in with her granddaughter in Pathum Thani province, but after about a month, the granddaughter said she was unable to care for her due to her in-laws needing to stay there for medical treatment. With nowhere else to turn, the elderly woman decided to seek the compassion of the temple and asked her granddaughter to drive her there.
Phra Ajarn Ard expressed deep sympathy, noting that the elderly woman could barely walk and suffered from chronic illness with no family willing to care for her. He acknowledged the temple's dilemma: "This is not an animal we can simply leave at the temple for care. If it were an animal, we could feed it. But this is a human being, a woman, and according to temple regulations, we cannot allow a woman to reside alone within the temple grounds."
He explained that while the temple has female volunteers who work and then return home, no one resides permanently in the temple. "We cannot blame society. We must look at the reasons and circumstances. The family said they were unprepared and unable to care for her. But what specifically prevented them? This requires a family conversation to find alternative solutions, not simply abandoning her at the temple like this."
Phra Ajarn Ard coordinated with Bun Pibulyanasthan, head of social welfare promotion at Lam Sam Gaew Municipality in Pathum Thani, who came to investigate and interview the woman. Officials discovered she has two children and had previously stayed with a monk brother in Prachuap Khiri Khan, but was told she couldn't stay due to being a woman, citing religious department regulations prohibiting women from residing alone in temples.
When officials contacted her daughter, she said she was unable to provide care. Her son was found to be homeless with no fixed address, unable to care for his mother. When they contacted the granddaughter who drove her to the temple, she also said she couldn't accommodate her and claimed the grandmother decided to ask the temple for shelter herself.
Initially, Lam Sam Gaew Municipality officials coordinated with the Pathum Thani provincial office of the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security to provide temporary care under their supervision. They are now investigating the family's capacity to care for the elderly woman.
