Two home-care nurses accused of causing death in Pöytyä – trial begins in Turku
The regional district court in Varsinais-Suomi is hearing a case in which an elderly couple in Pöytyä was left alone in their home for over a week. An 87-year-old woman died.
Elderly couple in Pöytyä left without assistance for nine days – home-care nurses to answer for it
The regional district court in Varsinais-Suomi in Turku is hearing on Wednesday a case in which an elderly couple from Pöytyä was left completely without assistance for over a week. According to Ilta-Sanomat, two female home-care nurses, aged 43 and 46, are facing charges. At the time of the incident, they were employed by the city of Pöytyä.
Police were called to the couple's home on 7 September 2022. The flat was found to contain a deceased 87-year-old woman and her 76-year-old husband in a severely deteriorated condition. The couple had been alone at home for nine days.
One of the home-care nurses is accused of causing death and abandonment. The other is charged with negligent breach of official duty.
The 76-year-old man served as informal carer for his wife, who suffered from severe memory disease. The couple had no close relatives who could have helped. The man had requested support from home care, which the couple had recently become clients of. Home care visited the flat several times at the end of August 2022 – on one visit, the man was helped up from a chair.
The final home visit took place on 30 August. On that occasion, no one answered the door or the telephone. The next attempt at contact did not occur until 5 September – this too was unsuccessful. Finally, one of the home-care nurses began making enquiries about the couple's situation, which led to police attending the flat on 7 September.
Detective superintendent Valtteri Kemppi reported in December 2023 that the pre-trial investigation revealed serious deficiencies in home care's management, oversight and communication. The man's concerns about the couple's situation had been recorded as far back as 2016, but no action was taken at that time.
Source: Ilta-Sanomat