As of: December 8th, 2021 7:52 am
28 residents died of corona in a Thuringian nursing home. Relatives are said to have advised against vaccinations. Patient protection advocate Brysch demands: The patient’s will must be clarified – through a care court.
After the death of 28 mostly unvaccinated residents of a nursing home in Rudolstadt in Thuringia, the German Foundation for Patient Protection is calling for a debate on how to deal with corona vaccination decisions by people who are under care. Actually, in such cases, the treating doctors are responsible for calling a care court to clarify the will of the residents, said board member Eugen Brysch of the dpa news agency. This is fundamentally necessary if the opinion of the doctor and the authorized representative differ on questions of care. “Everything else is negligent.”
Relatives are said to have advised against vaccination
The district in Rudolstadt had reported that some of the residents’ relatives had advised against a corona vaccination. Around a third of the more than 140 residents were therefore not vaccinated. According to the home operator, all 28 deceased had a proxy or carer. 22 of them were not fully vaccinated. “That is the blackest number we have in 2021,” said Brysch.
The case had caused nationwide reactions at the weekend. The health minister-designate Karl Lauterbach had reacted with horror and spoke of “complete unreasonableness”. According to the Thuringian Ministry of Health, there had been sufficient vaccination offers in the home.
No applications to the supervisory court
In other cases, it is common practice that when the opinions of doctors and guardians differ, a court is brought before a court that can decide within 24 hours, according to Brysch. According to the responsible supervisory court in Rudolstadt, no such requests were received from residents, doctors or the home management itself. In principle, this is also possible with vaccination issues, explained a spokesman. The home operator announced that, from his point of view, there were no indications of improper care. Why a vaccination is refused is usually not verifiable.
900,000 nursing home residents
Brysch thinks there will be more cases like in Rudolstadt in the future. He suspects that this has also happened in other homes. It must therefore be clarified quickly and generally how to deal with it. So you can’t wait until a general vaccination requirement has been introduced. “We are in the middle of a pandemic and today have 900,000 nursing home residents who need to be clarified who is responsible.” A no from the supervisor or authorized representative is not enough, the patient’s will must be clarified.
The FDP group in the Thuringian state parliament, however, views the mandatory vaccination for staff in nursing homes planned in the federal government. “We risk that the particularly endangered people are lulled into a false sense of security,” said spokesman Thomas Kemmerich. Currently, 83 percent of the over 60-year-olds in Thuringia are vaccinated. That is where it is to start. “The motto must be: Vaccinate the right people! First and foremost, those are the people who are at risk.”