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The outcome of a criminal case about a demented man who caused the death of a 99-year-old woman in a nursing home should make politicians in Christiansborg react.
This is the opinion of the Alzheimer’s Association, which expresses concern about the consequences of a judgment handed down on 29 October by the Court in Kolding.
In a letter to the Danish Parliament’s Judiciary Committee, the patient association asks the parties’ legal rapporteurs to take action. SF is trying that now.
In the case, a 74-year-old demented man was sentenced to be placed in a psychiatric ward because he had assaulted the woman in a nursing home in Christiansfeld last December. The violence meant that the woman died a day later.
The man had gone the wrong way and ended up in the 99-year-old’s apartment. He allegedly thought the woman was in his apartment. Then the violence ensued.
Because of his suffering, he should not be punished.
But even though the man does not have a psychiatric diagnosis, the court has decided to place him in a psychiatric ward. This is due to a recommendation from the Council of Medical Examiners. The council gives expert opinions, which are used in court cases, among other things.
“We are very concerned that the Council of Medical Examiners is thus neglecting medical insight into dementia and dementia expertise,” writes the association.
Two doctors had recommended placement in a sheltered nursing home. And the defender also brought that wish to court.
The man’s family is upset about the situation. In the ward, he spends his waking hours on a chair. He neither can nor must associate with the psychiatric patients, according to the family, according to TV Syd.
“The staff tell us that they don’t have time and that we have to understand that they are an acute psychiatric ward and not a nursing home. We call it isolation,’ says the family.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, the municipality is also responsible for the fact that he has ended up among the mentally ill and will probably remain there for the rest of his life.
“It is very challenging for the sense of justice if it can be the individual municipality’s priorities that are decisive in criminal cases,” writes the association.
The case from Kolding should not set a precedent, the chairman of the psychiatry and social committee in Region Southern Denmark has told TV Syd. There should be a better offer for those affected by dementia, believes Mette Bossen Linnet.
According to the judgment, the demented person must pay compensation to the 99-year-old’s survivors of a total of almost DKK 130,000. In addition, there are legal costs of up to DKK 100,000, which have, however, been brought before the High Court.
These bills also seem unreasonable, the Alzheimer’s Association believes. Especially in light of the fact that staff at the care home did not respond to alarms that showed he had left his flat that morning in December.
The same is the opinion of SF court reporter Karina Lorentzen Dehnhardt, who has followed the case closely and has been in contact with both the Alzheimer’s Association and the family of the demented man.
She has now asked Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard (S) to deal with the patient association’s criticism.
Karina Lorentzen Dehnhardt herself suggests that, in connection with the government’s upcoming penal reform, a committee be set up with, for example, doctors and lawyers.
It must look at how the demented person’s path in the legal system should be – both as victims and perpetrators, it says.
“Because we are getting more and more people with dementia in our society, so we will have to deal with that”, says Karina Lorentzen Dehnhardt:
“There will be more demented people who, because of their illness, will do something illegal. And there will also be victims who are at risk of exploitation and abuse. We need to deal with that, I think.’
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Source: politiken.dk
