Human rights monitoring experts carried out an unannounced visit to the ‘Sfântul Gabriel cel Viteaz’ Social care home for Adults with Disabilities to observe the manner in which the fundamental rights of institutionalized persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities are respected.
- ”Sfântul Gabriel cel Viteaz” Social Care home operates in a two-story villa, housing 27 or 30 residents with reduced mobility. There are only 4 employees, none of whom are formally trained to assist people with intellectual and/or psychosocial disabilities.
- Several residents were transferred from other social care homes or psychiatric facilities without their informed consent, and two residents had been sent away to a psychiatric hospital for aggressive behaviour.
- CLR representatives met residents who looked unkempt, underweight, sad and resigned.
- The transfer procedures lack transparency and the management is hostile.
- Nine residents were housed in a semi-basement with narrow windows, no fresh air or sunlight, and no regard for residents’ medical history, medical files or ability to give consent and sign contracts.
- The attic houses several immobilised residents, including a young woman who is unable to stand on her feet.
- The basement has an open space with low metal frame beds, a mattress placed on the floor, three rooms with three beds each, no storage space for personal objects, no pillows or blankets, and a narrow window.
- One institutionalised resident receives medication for his tremors, but doesn’t know his diagnosis. He was put under interdiction by a judge and his mom is his legal tutor.
- The upper floor is surrounded by metal bars and residents are poorly dressed, with buzz cuts and biscuit rewards for good behaviour.
- They do not receive psychological services, social assistance, or psychiatric and somatic care, and daily activities are of an infantilizing nature.
- Isolation and maintaining order are the main focus, and there are no multi-disciplinary teams available to evaluate the specific needs of residents.
- Despite this, public representatives and private entities continue to claim that beneficiaries are placed under legal guardianship.
- CLR demands that the ANPDPD take all necessary measures, including legislative, to ensure a fair process when a resident dies in a social care facility, or following a transfer from a social care home to a hospital.
A list of demands addressed to the responsible authoritiesis available in the full report (RO version).
