They are not willing to forget that they died “alone, like dogs, left by everyone’s hands” due to the decision of a regional government, that of Madrid, not to transfer those most vulnerable Covid-infected residents to hospitals. “They did not have a chance to survive,” say the relatives of the 7,291 elderly people who died in the first wave of covid (March-April 2020). Since then, they have asked the justice system not to forget about them and to investigate once and for all that regional protocol that prevented transfer to a hospital.
Yesterday they demonstrated again in the center of Madrid (a few thousand) demanding JUSTICE (yes, with capital letters) and for nursing homes to stop being a “service that only cares about making an economic profit, forgetting about serve with dignity,” say sources from the Marea de Residencias, where family members gather.
No, they haven’t invented it. The former Minister of Social Policies of the Community of Madrid Alberto Reyero declared this summer before the judge that 90% of the residents who died between March and April 2020 did so in the senior center itself as a consequence of the application of the protocols of no referral to hospitals. “Only 10% died in hospitals. This data reflects very well what happened,” said Reyero, who resigned after not agreeing with these protocols.
The Government of Madrid, chaired by Isabel Díaz Ayuso, defends that this protocol was “a recommendation” and that the final decision on the transfer rested with the residence directors and geriatricians, something that Marea de Residencias calls into question: “When does a protocol is a recommendation”?, they ask.
Reyero testified as a witness before the head of the investigating court number 4 of Madrid, which is investigating several cases of deaths in two nursing homes in the capital during the first wave of the pandemic. Specifically, the judge is investigating the directors, as well as two doctors, at the request of two complaints filed by relatives of the deceased through the Platform for the Dignity of the Elderly.
But it is not the only open case (many cases have been reported, but the justice system has rejected them). A few days ago, the Provincial Court of Madrid ordered the investigating court number 50 to reopen a case to investigate whether President Isabel Díaz Ayuso and two of her advisors during the pandemic (Enrique Ruiz Escudero, then in Health, and Enrique López, of Justice) have some criminal responsibility in the death of seven elderly people in a residence in Ciudad Lineal by not being referred to the hospital.
This is stated in an order issued on October 25 in which, after the court’s dismissal of the complaint of seven families, who appealed to the Provincial Court, it is ordered to investigate whether there are indications of criminality in the decisions by Ayuso, Ruiz Escudero and López.
Regardless of what justice finally rules about what happened in these centers, the reality is that it has been found that the situation of these residences (there are 3,000 in Spain) and the treatment given to the residents leaves much to be desired. Faced with this reality, the Ministry of Social Rights has set itself the objective (it began last term) of expanding home care, understanding that the elderly want to be at home as long as possible, and as for residences, converting them into “homes”, reducing ratios and improving services.
