The woman in Ørsta is physically and mentally ill with several diagnoses and acting out. Specialists at the hospital in Ålesund believe that she needs help so much that she needs the supervision of two people. Instead, Ørsta municipality left her to itself last summer. Then the municipality decided that no employees were allowed to enter the woman’s house, citing fears that she would be violent: “After repeated episodes of unrest, threats and acting out against the staff … the practical assistance environment/buteneste service was set up break in July”, wrote the head of services in Ørsta municipality, Kristin Vik, in a letter earlier this autumn. The municipal management at Ørsta Town Hall will not comment on the case and refers to the duty of confidentiality. Photo: Remi Sagen / news – Overgrown with dirt The family is distraught over the lack of help and complained about the case to the State Administrator in Møre og Romsdal. – Her condition was terrible. There are no words to describe what it looked like, the next of kin wrote to the State Administrator last year. In the e-mail, the family said that it was overgrown with dirt in several rooms. The medicine that should have been taken was unopened. New doses were out in the mailbox. Garbage, dirty cups and dishes should be floating around the house. A large pot of soil must have been emptied into the heat pump. They also write about defective light bulbs and fire alarms, ruined toilet rings and cupboard doors. And a sick woman who is unable to do anything about it herself. The sick woman has for periods been without the help she was entitled to from the municipality. The family believes it has made her even sicker. Photo: Remi Sagen / news Broke the law The state administrator in Møre og Romsdal concludes that Ørsta municipality has broken the law. They now state that: by putting the medication in the post box or outside the house, the municipality has not ensured proper medication handling, that the woman has also not received help with cooking, personal hygiene or social contact, the municipality has illegally demanded that the relatives hire help for cleaning and washing up the woman was entitled to 15 hours of practical assistance each week, but the municipality has no record of what those hours have been used for. The State Administrator also states that the municipality has not carried out a proper risk assessment of the consequences of not allowing access to the woman. Nor has the municipality documented that they have assessed whether the woman is competent to consent. Ørsta municipality has been asked the same question after a mentally ill man was found dead weighing 37 kilos last Christmas. Never heard of the husband – I have not heard anything similar, to be completely honest, says professor of psychiatry at Innlandet University College, Lars Lien. He has read the documents in the case, and concludes that the woman is unlikely to be able to collect her medicines or that no one can be sure that she will take them. He believes the municipality should have asked the police for help or considered using coercion if the employees were afraid to approach the woman. He says many employees in the municipalities lack knowledge and training on how they can help violent users. Professor of psychiatry, Lars Lien, says many employees in the municipalities lack knowledge about how they can help violent users. Photo: Thomas B. Eckhoff / The Norwegian Medical Association Claims she has received help Ørsta municipality believes they themselves have given the woman the help she needs. To news, the municipal management in Ørsta will not comment concretely on the matter and refers to the duty of confidentiality. – Service delivery takes place in interaction between service providers and service recipients. Sometimes this interaction can be complicated and also risky. In such cases, the focus is on trust-building measures to get the services delivered, writes service manager Kristin Vik in an e-mail to news. This is in sharp contrast to what the family has notified the State Administrator in Møre og Romsdal about. They write that the woman may be verbally abusive due to illness, and claim that the municipality is punishing her by cutting back on help. The municipality rejects this. Vik replies that, on a general basis, none of their service recipients are subject to punishment or sanctions. The documents in the case show that several people have notified the municipality about the situation. news has asked for access to the notice, but has not received it. Here are the questions that the municipality does not want to answer – What is the reason why the municipality considered it prudent to stop the help to the woman for periods? – Had the municipality considered other measures before the aid was stopped? – How do they now ensure that the woman gets the help she is legally entitled to? – The relatives have several times called for a plan and decision for the user, and say they have not received it. What is the reason for that? – What has the municipality learned from the case? – The next of kin write to the State Administrator “It is our clear opinion that the lack of services directly causes her further illness and heavy burden”. What is the municipality’s comment on this? Waiting for more from the municipality Secretary General Lilly Ann Elvestad of the Joint Organization of the Disabled refers to it as gross that the municipality did not make any written assessment of whether it was appropriate to end the services. – This is sad. I read this case as failure after failure on the part of the municipality. The municipality has given up too easily, and does not meet the requirement for proper services, says Elvestad. – What should the municipality do? – The municipality should have made closer assessments of what kind of alternative exists, and followed up afterwards. We should expect the municipality to consider all alternatives, she says. General secretary Lilly Ann Elvestad thinks it is sad to read about the situation for women in Ørsta. Photo: Håkon Benjaminsen Hevdar woman has become sicker The woman’s family believes that the municipality has shown over several years that they are unable to take care of the woman. They have repeatedly asked to see plans and decisions for the help the municipality says they would give her, without getting an answer. – It is our clear opinion that the lack of services is directly causing her further illness and heavy burden, one of the relatives wrote to the State Administrator in connection with the investigation case recently. The municipality does not wish to respond to the claim that the woman has become sicker as a result of missing services. The family is aware that news is covering the case, but does not wish to comment. They also do not want to answer whether the woman has now received a better offer, and whether today she is getting the help she is entitled to. The woman is completely dependent on help to be able to live at home. The municipality refers to the duty of confidentiality and will not answer what they are now doing to secure her the offer she is entitled to. Photo: Remi Sagen / news
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Leave the medicine on the doormat of a mentally ill woman in Ørsta – the municipality broke the law – news Møre og Romsdal – Local news, TV and radio
