This morning.
A report by the Special Dáil Committee on Covid-19 has recommended a public inquiry into each of the almost 1,000 coronavirus-related deaths in nursing homes.
Via RTÉ
The report notes how public health authorities “became overly focused on preparing acute hospitals for the ongoing pandemic in February and March” and that the State “failed to recognise the level of risk posed to those in nursing homes”.
Committee members also highlight the State’s “silo type approach…that did nothing to prevent the spread of the disease“.
…The committee recommends the public inquiry should examine the “large scale discharge of patients from acute hospitals to nursing homes at the beginning of March” as well as the response of the HSE, Department of Health, NPHET and Government to virus related difficulties in nursing homes.
The Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan has consistently defended NPHET’s decision not to recommend visitor restrictions on 6 March – however the committee recommends a public inquiry should examine this decision further.
Meanwhile,
TDs say there should be greater transparency around the data used by NPHET to recommend restrictions- and the data should be peer reviewed by an Independent expert panel.
Committee on Covid-19 recommends inquiry into nursing home deaths (Barry Lenihan, RTÉ)
Previously: Left To Die: Nursing Home Timeline
So they are calling for a public inquiry into “large scale discharge of patients from acute hospitals to nursing homes at the beginning of March” and NPHET’s decision not to recommend visitor restrictions on 6 March?
That is good but is there not other issues to be considered like- lack of PPE, lack of testing, lack of palliative care etc?
Oh now you care about aul wans! Maskhole marchers say their deaths don’t count cos they were old and should be dead anyway.
If you cannot see the difference between protecting the vulnerable and locking down the entire country then there is no hope for you.
Leaving elderly people to die frightened and alone will go down as one of the lowest points in our nation’s treatment of its citizens. The order for sick elderly patients to be returned to nursing homes with strict instructions they NOT be tested for Covid should be the subject of a criminal investigation.
That is a fair point- if an individual can be prosecuted for mixing with others while knowingly carrying the virus then surely the instruction to dump sick people into a home full of other high risks is also reckless endangerment?
A call was made that these people’s lives were not worth saving- war time medicine- except we were nowhere near that sort of scenario.
Yes, and civil actions by familes would be relatively ineffective too as fatal injury cases receive less damages than those left alive with injuries. The individual responsible would also avoid any real personal penalty. Criminal prosecution for enforcing a course of action that could reasonably have been known to result in amuch heigtened risk of transmission of what was a deadly virus for the age profile and physical disposition of the people exposed to that risk. It’s a manslaughter case at least.
The order for sick elderly patients to be returned to nursing homes with strict instructions they NOT be tested for Covid should be the subject of a criminal investigation.
I agree that with that.
But did it actually happen?
Marcus DeBun definitively said so- and this development may somewhat explain why he has gone off line.
Well one of the factors was that in some cases staff either got sick or just didn’t turn up- which meant that some of these poor people didn’t even have basic nursing care.
I can’t imagine what it must have been like lying there watching others die around them, knowing they could be next and not even a family member to comfort them.
Somebody must be held accountable for this- it was wrong on so many levels.