A 49 year old male care worker has been accused of neglicence, after the lack of hygienic care given to 96 year old patient, Florinda Queiroz, resulted in the bedridden woman having her body riddled with ants.
The Public Ministry (MP) of Faro brought charges against the employee of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Boliqueime, for offenses to physical integrity due to negligence.
According to the accusation, released yesterday in a statement by the Faro District Attorney's Office, the care worker neglected to take care of the hygiene of the elderly woman, hospitalised in the institution's home.
The case dates back to June 2022, when the now accused employee had “the function of, among otherthings, changing the diapers of the patients and making several rounds to their rooms, to check if they needed support from third parties”, reads the statement.
The indictment alleges that, in “June 2022, not obeying the schedule of tasks scheduled for the night shift, between 00:00 and 08:00, the accused did not go to the room of a 96 year old Florinda ”, who was “dependent on third parties to take care of her hygiene and clothing”.
Without the necessary care, “hundreds or thousands of ants entered the room where the woman was and bit her on the head, limbs and body, causing her skin irritations and drooling”, says the accusation.
Florinda Queiroz, who died a month after this episode, “wore a diaper” and was fed “through a probe”, often “disoriented in time and space”.
The case became known to the public a few months later, in September 2022, when images of a video were publicly released showing the elderly woman, bedridden, covered in ants.
On September 21st 2022, the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Boliqueime announced the opening of an inquiry to determine responsibilities for an alleged case of “serious negligence” in the treatment of an elderly woman entrusted to the care of that institution in the district of Faro.
On October 6, the Social Security Institute carried out an inspection of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia home in Boliqueime and reported that it had not found any similar situation.
Under Portuguese law, the crime of offenses to physical integrity by negligence results in a penalty of up to one year in prison or expulsion for 120 days in the case of a simple offense, or imprisonment of up to two years or expulsion of up to 240 days, in case of serious offense.
Source https://postal.pt/
