A nursing home in Haniyeh, Greece’s second-largest city, has been accused of elder abuse, resulting in the deaths of 68 people in a year. Greek prosecutors on April 22 ordered an investigation into the horrific series of events.
According to Greek state television, 68 elderly people died in nursing homes last year, mostly from “heart failure” or “heart disease”. The families of the deceased residents questioned the cause of death in the death certificate and called on authorities to conduct a thorough investigation to bring the incident to light.
On the orders of Greek prosecutors, a casket autopsy has been carried out on a woman who died in November to determine the true cause of death at the cemetery in the local village of Kissamos, where family members and representatives of the nursing home were present.
According to reports, the nursing home in addition to the alleged elder abuse of the elderly, but also suspected of using psychotropic drugs to reduce the difficulty of management and the number of nursing staff.
Several Greek media said that in the past few weeks, local police have summoned a number of employees of the nursing home, they also confirmed that the hospital has poor living conditions and care negligence problems.
Police are focusing on whether organised crime groups are involved behind nursing homes and whether they involve the seizure of victims’ property.
But the nursing home has now denied any wrongdoing. The hospital issued a statement through its lawyer refuting allegations of neglect of care and covering up a coronavirus outbreak.
