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Police probe mystery death at Swedish care home after spate of overdoses

Police are investigating one case of murder and two attempted murders at a care home in the west of Sweden, after a doctor raised the alarm about suspicious insulin overdoses.

Police probe mystery death at Swedish care home after spate of overdoses
At least of the women did not normally receive insulin injections. Photo: Claudio Bresciani/TT
“There is one man who died in connection to the events,” Stina Lundqvist, the prosecutor in the case, told the local Göteborgs Tidning newspaper.
 
“All of these three people who received a medication which they were not supposed to have, according to what they were prescribed,” she added in an interview with Swedish state radio broadcaster SR
 
“We are investigating the events as attempted murder,” she told Sweden's TT newswire, which reported that it could be a case of active euthanasia, which is illegal in Sweden, although the prosecutor did not comment.
 
The doctor reported his suspicions to the police after two women from the same section of the care home were admitted to the hospital, both suffering from extremely low blood sugar. 
 
“Through giving the plaintiff insulin, someone has caused her to lose consciousness and stop breathing,” a senior doctor at the hospital wrote in a police report.
 
The doctor added that the woman would not have been capable of administering the insulin herself. 
 
In January this year, a third resident from the same section of the same care home, was also admitted to the hospital suffering from low blood sugar. It was then that police put a prosecutor on the case. 
 
“It's unlikely to be a coincidence because it is all from the same section and is the same type of event,” Lundqvist told TT.
 
“But it's a slightly special case. We can't say with confidence that this is an attempted murder. That's something we hope the investigation will shed some light on.” 
 
“There are certain elements which suggest a crime has been committed, although exactly what evidence this is, I cannot go into at present.” 
 
 
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At least one of the women did not normally take insulin, and another was admitted with a type of insulin in her body different from that which she was prescribed. 
 
According to a report in a local newspaper, a police search of the home found two empty insulin pens containing fast-acting insulin which were not registered in the home's records. 
 
Lundqvist said it was a “complicated investigation”, as many of the staff who worked at the home at the time had already moved on. 
 
“We have no one at present we could reasonably call a suspect, but of course there are people we are looking closely at,” she said. “It's of course a natural part of our investigation to look at who has been working at the home when all the events took place.” 
 
The prosecutor in the case, Stina Lundqvist, says there is not yet a suspect. Photo: Adam Ihse/Exponera

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Spain’s prosecutors file criminal complaint over virus care home death

Spanish prosecutors said Tuesday they have filed a criminal complaint against a Madrid care home doctor and its director over the Covid-related death of a resident, in the first such case in the capital region since the start of the pandemic

Spain's prosecutors file criminal complaint over virus care home death
Photo: AFP

Madrid's public prosecutor's office said the two women are suspected of manslaughter and denial of medical attention in relation to the death in March of a woman in her 80s who had just moved into the home.   

Madrid was one of the hardest-hit cities in Europe by the first wave of the pandemic, and the complaint is expected to be one of several alleging inadequate care at retirement homes during the period.

In a statement, the prosecutor's office said the doctor and the director of the home, who were not named, did not follow the protocol set up by the Madrid regional government for caring for residents during the pandemic.

The doctor “disregarded” the protocol and did not call a hospital about the woman, despite her worsening condition, until eight days after she began having breathing trouble.

“Despite her rapid transfer to hospital, she died the following day from cardiac arrest,” the statement said.

The care home's director “was aware of the patient's clinical situation (but) did nothing” to ensure she received health care during periods when the doctor was absent, notably on the weekend before her death, it added.   

Amnesty International warned earlier this month that conditions at elderly care homes in the Madrid region and in Catalonia remained “alarming” despite improvements.

In a sharply worded report, it said the “vast majority” of residents had not been properly cared for during the pandemic.

The measures put in place by both regions were “inefficient and inadequate” and violated the residents' rights, it said.   

Spain has been one of Europe's worst-hit countries, with the virus infecting more than 1.7 million people and causing over 48,000 deaths.

Close to half of that number are believed to be elderly people who died in homes, Amnesty said.

At the height of the first wave in March, Spanish soldiers helping to fight the pandemic found elderly patients in retirement homes abandoned and, in some cases, dead in their beds.

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