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Man with dementia left to die in front of TV

Clara Guibourg
Clara Guibourg - [email protected]
Man with dementia left to die in front of TV

A dying man was left alone, as Carema neglected to put in extra staff to watch over him. Instead, the demented man's last hours were spent alone on a chair, in front of the television.

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The storm surrounding private care company Carema continues to grow, as two Carema geriatric homes Norshöjden and Korsnäsgården in Falun, in central Sweden, have been accused of severe flaws, reported Dagens Nyheter (DN).

Despite promising the municipality that they had the required dietician and physiotherapist on board, the homes were revealed to have lied. When the dietician and physiotherapist that Carema claimed to have hired were contacted, both stated that they had no contract with Carema.

According to Anna Wikberg, manager of Norshöjden, this was due to the home switching dietician and physiotherapist recently.

"Now we've found a solution, but this sort of thing can happen when someone quits," she said to DN.

An intern working at Korsnäsgården this spring revealed the incident with the dying man left alone, despite severe pain and fear of death.

"This can't be allowed. A person shouldn't have to die alone, with the TV as last company. Extra staff has to be put in," said the intern to DN.

"The management is suggesting that the death occurred rapidly and unexpectedly, but that isn't true. He was pumped full of morphine, which is only done if the person is dying," said the intern.

Korsnäsgården responded to this criticism by accusing the intern of breaking confidentiality, and manager Helene Sundgren is unwilling to comment further on the matter.

Over the past couple of weeks, several Carema-run homes have been revealed to have significant flaws, from unchanged diapers to poor working environment. The scandal has led to raised voices for tightened quality control of elderly homes.

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