The Public Ministry of Ponta Delgada, Azores, has closed a criminal investigation into the deaths of 12 visitors to a nursing home in Santa Casa da Misericordia do Nordeste, São Miguel island. The deaths occurred in March 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.
The case concerned a doctor at the Divino Espirito Santo Hospital in Ponta Delgada who discharged a home user without first conducting a screening test to determine whether the elderly woman was infected with the virus. Those in charge of Santa Casa da Misericórdia do Nordeste were also investigated “due to the spread of the virus among other users and employees of Santa Casa” and the health official “due to the measures he took to prevent the spread of the virus.”
“After all the actions taken during the investigation, namely the issuance of the conclusion of the Medical-Legal Council of the National Institute of Forensic Medicine and Forensic Science of the Delegation of the Center, it was concluded that the doctor who discharged from the hospital was not obliged to take a test for COVID-19 to the user, since such a measure had not yet been implemented and she did not have any symptoms associated with COVID-19 or any other disease of the respiratory system,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement released this Friday.
As for the provider Santa Casa da Misericórdia do Nordeste and its employees, “they were not responsible for the internal spread of the virus by Santa Casa users and employees, since even before the first case of COVID-19 appeared in the Azores, they had already implemented an action plan in emergency situations in Santa Casa da Misericordia do Nordeste and only learned that the user became infected a few days after she returned home and that the health official had taken all planned measures to combat the spread of the disease in Santa Casa -yes-Misericordia. do Nordeste, as soon as the diagnosis of the first case of COVID-19 in Santa Casa became known.”
Author: Sergio A. Vitorino
Source: CM Jornal
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