A 90-year-old man suffering from Dementia was allegedly mistreated while he was admitted for treatment at Mater Dei Hospital, left with severe bedsores on his heels, legs, and buttocks.

Lovin Malta was approached by the man’s daughter, who was very upset at the ordeal after she saw the state that her father was in following his discharge from the hospital.

“He came out worse than he came in. They just left him there like a sack of potatoes,” the disgruntled woman told Lovin Malta. 

“His body is completely stiff because he was not moved when he was in there, and he’s in excruciating pain every time I turn him now,” she said.

The man was admitted to Urology Ward 1 for blood in his urine on 15th October, where he then stayed at the hospital for five days.

While visiting, the woman also noticed that he had been left in the same socks as he was wearing when he was first admitted, even though she had provided clean socks and clothes.

“When he came back home, and I put him in bed to change his diaper, I was shocked to see all of these bedsores. He has been wheelchair-bound and bed-bound since March 2020, and not once did he get bedsore while I was caring for him,” the woman said. 

The bedsores are so severe that he now requires two weeks of medical treatment in order to recover from them. He is also in need of physical therapy from being left in the same spot for such an extended period of time.

“My father’s medicine was also not sent home with him, the nurse had to deliver it to his residence as I am his only carer and can’t leave him alone,” she said.

The woman then filed a complaint with the nurse in charge of the ward, who told her that “the carer informed me that he only had a little bit of pink on his heel when he was discharged”. 

“This is horrible care and treatment. It should be the charge nurse’s responsibility to examine a patient prior to discharging and not go by what a carer tells them. Just because my father is old, it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t matter, he is still a living human being,” she emphasised.

Mater Dei’s customer care section has contacted the woman and the Health Ministry has confirmed that an internal investigation will be opened.

Have you ever experienced anything similar?