When 98-year-old M.H.C. voluntarily entered a nursing home in Girona after a femur operation, she never thought it would be so difficult for her to return home. Her passage through the socio-sanitary was going to be a matter of days: just enough time to start rehabilitation, buy an articulated bed, condition the shower and reinforce the help staff so that she would be cared for uninterruptedly 24 hours a day. But when she asked to be discharged, the center denied it, citing "moderate cognitive impairment." The old woman lived alone since the death of her only child, two years ago, with the support of a caregiver. Her sister, 92, is in a center in Barcelona.
In the absence of a legal guardian, the Sanitas residence reported – they say that "by protocol" and to "protect her legally" – of the situation to the Prosecutor's Office and the Social Services, while the elderly woman, with great purchasing power, and her circle of friends began another process so that he could leave the center and continue his recovery at home. A process that has not yet concluded and that has mobilized not only her entourage, but also a law firm, a notary and the Prosecutor's Office.
The alert to this story – which Diari de Girona advanced – was given by friends of the nonagenarian, when on their periodic visits to the residence they realized that something had changed. They did not let her go for a walk outside the center, not even accompanied by her. The meetings, which in the first days of admission were held inside the room, began to be held in a public place, in the hall. The elderly woman also did not have access to her own medical documentation. A change in the visits that from sources of the residence argue that it was to "protect the woman" considering that she could be in a situation of vulnerability. "It was believed that it was the safest procedure," explain sources from Sanitas. The Generalitat endorses their actions. "It is important to preserve the safety and integrity of the people under their care, and to defend their interests to the extent possible , under judicial supervision ”, they point out in Drets Socials. Despite the fact that the old woman and her circle repeatedly asked to leave the residence.
Faced with the refusal, a notary went to the senior center for the woman to sign powers in favor of a friend and that she could act on her behalf: have access to her personal and medical documentation and decide where she was going to continue with her recovery. The signing took place in the hall of the residence, in the presence of two physicians, including the family doctor, who stated that the woman could continue the recovery process at her home with the corresponding material and human resources.
The powers of attorney were signed on March 11. But it was not until the 16th when she managed to leave the residence, where she was admitted for a month. The Cuéllar Advocats law firm mediated the process, which sent an urgent burofax to the center urging the elderly woman to be discharged, otherwise they would proceed to file a complaint and take legal action.
The lawyers sent a letter to the Prosecutor's Office to inform what happened. They believe that the center "made people believe that the woman was in a situation of risk or helplessness that she deserved guardianship, with a single and obvious economic interest." An extreme that, from the residence, they deny emphatically. The Prosecutor's Office concluded this week that the protagonist of this story does not need extra protection measures and has filed the case.
