Six months after the allegations of starving, sick and neglected residents in the Senecura home in Salzburg-Lehen, the judiciary has made a decision: the investigations against 16 people, including ten nurses, will be discontinued. “They did their utmost to keep the business running,” says the prosecutor.
The Ombudsman’s Office got the case rolling with a report on the disastrous conditions in the Senecura home. This was followed by political consequences: The responsible state councilor Heinrich Schellhorn has announced his resignation. The “Krone” reported extensively at the time. At the same time, the public prosecutor’s office also began investigating the suspicion of torturing and neglecting defenseless people and bodily harm. Several interrogations and a court-commissioned report later confirmed that the Salzburg public prosecutor’s office had stopped investigating 16 people: ten nursing assistants and three qualified nurses were affected as well as two department heads and one home manager. “A gross neglect was not detectable,” explains spokeswoman Elena Haslinger. Wounded woman was recalcitrantHaslinger also reports in the “Krone” interview about the reason for the investigations, which was shown by the state during controls: a massive wound in an elderly woman. “As the investigations showed, the woman concerned was not completely defenseless. She communicated her will clearly and was quite recalcitrant.” The woman is said to have resisted being moved around and rejected the efforts of the carers. “It was definitely not like the nurses were just watching. Rather, the statements of the accused unanimously show that those affected did their job and did their utmost to maintain the nursing service. According to the report, there is a lack of legal requirements from the state. The findings of the experts who are preparing a report from the field of health and nursing are also interesting: According to the prosecution, they described excessive demands, a lack of workers and poor communication. The expert is critical of the fact that there is no maintenance key. “There is no statutory requirement from the state government for the number of carers,” emphasizes Haslinger.
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