As in most countries, a large proportion of coronavirus deaths in France are taking place in nursing homes. Of 32,000 deaths in France, about 14,000 were in nursing homes. Confirmed cases and deaths are rising again for the first time in months. French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted this week that “our elders, more fragile, are more […]
Documents released to Mayo Aontú representative Paul Lawless under the Freedom of Information Act show a third case of covid_19 crossover at Mayo University Hospital. Mr Lawless said that people were too afraid to present to the hospital at the height of the crisis. Serious concerns were raised at the peak of the pandemic over […]
Many nursing home residents with breathing difficulties were given morphine instead of oxygen Disturbing figures are coming from Sweden about the number of Covid-19 deaths amongst the elderly. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, half of the people who died in Sweden were residents of nursing homes. Sweden’s approach to the […]
I have written elsewhere about how the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in dangerous and unethical responses like ventilator rationing, unilateral DNRs, and some states ordering nursing homes and other long-term care facilities to accept coronavirus patients discharged from hospitals. But the Covid-19 crisis has also spawned new ideas such as the American Clinicians Academy On Medical Aid in Dying’s policy […]
In most other western countries, the release of this HSE memo by former Simon Harris appointee Dr. Marcus De Brun would be leading the news everywhere. Not in Ireland, though, where the top story everywhere is about schools re-opening in September, which is almost four months away. And poor Dr. De Brun’s tweet of the […]
Fran McNulty of RTÉ broke the news on Twitter this afternoon. He said the Data Protection Commission is apparently dealing with complaints that employers at meat plants and nursing homes received the Covid-19 test results of employees before they were given to workers. BREAKING: Data Protection Commission dealing with complaints about #Covid_19 test results being […]
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín TD has called on the Taoiseach to commit to an Investigation into the crisis in the Nursing Home sector. He says he seeks to ensure “for Public Health reasons, that we do not repeat these mistakes again”. Deputy Tóibín said the investigation “should happen after the Coronavirus crisis subsides”. Speaking in […]
In the week before Easter, Life Institute (for which I am a spokeswoman) launched a campaign seeking to ensure older people would not be denied life-saving care in this crisis, because decisions regarding the allocation of critical care should never be based solely on age. Events since then have given fresh urgency to the initiative. Disturbing […]
As of 17th April, 302 people have died from the virus in community care settings, which is 62% of all Covid-19 deaths, with 253 of those in nursing homes. Each day, we read on the news about how many cases and deaths there have been, how the curve is flattening, and whether we can ease […]
The Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) has confirmed that almost one-third of nursing homes in Ireland have the Cornavirus, with clusters of Covid-19 now in 155 of the residential care facilities. Professor Jack Lambert, who specialises in infectious diseases at the Mater hospital, has warned that the spread of the virus in nursing homes is “a catastrophe […]
With almost half of all deaths associated with Coronavirus now taking place in nursing homes, the Minister for Health, has said that some nursing homes are still without proper personal protective equipment (PPE). Government decisions, including lifting a ban on visits to nursing homes and failing to make care homes a priority for PPE, are now […]
A new study has shown that Irish nursing homes appear to be hit worse by Covid-19 than some other European countries. The international study by Adelina Comas-Herrera and Joseba Zalakain was published by the International Long Term Care Policy Network and examined mortality in care home residents during the coronavirus crisis. In looking at in […]