Suspicion: Hospital staff abused semi-conscious patient
Footage from surveillance camera shows systematic abuse of helpless patient by hospital workers
Hospital staffers were caught on tape brutally beating a semi-conscious patient, Ynet learned on Friday.
The 23-year-old patient has been treated at the hospital for the past four years after suffering brain damage due to an illness. Her relatives told investigators that her condition had deteriorated while at the hospital and that they had suspected over the past few months that she was the victim of physical abuse.
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Footage taken from a surveillance camera installed by the family above the patient's bed showed hospital workers systematically abusing her. In some of the documented incidents a male caregiver can be seen pulling the woman's hair while raising her head in order change a feeding tube. When the patient reacted by moving her arms, the nurse struck her in the face.
צילום: יוגב אטיאס
Watch the abuse (Video: Yogev Attias)
A Haifa Police official said the patient's mother filed a complaint on Thursday and that the family showed investigators the incriminating footage. "The family presented evidence that reveals a harsh picture of shocking and intense physical abuse," said Chief Superintendant Eli Magen.
Four of the hospital's workers were arrested following a brief investigation. Three of them are Haifa residents between the ages of 30 and 50, while the fourth is man in his 30s who lives in Kiryat Ata. The suspects have denied the allegations.
Police sources said they have yet to encounter such systematic abuse at the hands of so many members of a medical team.
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