Old man dies in bed next to immobile wife

An old man died in his apartment in Coimbra. Lying next to him, and calling for help for five days, lay his wife. She could not get out of bed to contact neighbours or emergency services.

Eventually neighbours did giv e the alert and firefighters discovered an elderly man who had been dead for many days, and an unconscious woman who was taken to, and remains at, the University Hospital of Coimbra.  

The wife was unable to help her husband who had not been seen by neighbours since last Monday as, despite health problems, he used to go out on occasion.

_________________

There recently has been much natinal comment on the growing number of elderly in the Portuguese population, also the number of elderly that live alone or with others equally old. The provision of old peoples’ homes and care is poor to non-existent and children with elderly parent may be increasingly educated, mobile and living far away in no position to accommodate their parents or to provide regular care.

This gap in social service provision is expensive to fill and the current and previous governments have avoided humane provision for elderly care as part of overall social planning.  It is a problem that will not go away. There will be many more reports this year of the elderly dying alone, some not being found for considerable periods. Ed.

• < Prev
• Next >