The applicant’s mother, who had Alzheimer’s lived in a nursing home needing constant supervision. She was left alone in a courtyard and disappeared. There had been negligence by staff in leaving her alone. The applicant complained to the prosecutor’s office about the conduct of the staff, but the criminal investigation was discontinued. The prosecutor’s office refused to open proceedings against the police. The applicant took civil proceedings against those responsible for the nursing home and against the Minister of the Interior, as the authority responsible for the police, but the proceedings dragged on and, by the time the case was heard in Strasbourg, they were still at an early stage. As to the nursing home, though the applicant criticised the regulations, this was part of a complaint that there had been a violation of the procedural obligation in article 2(1), since the Bulgarian legal system had not provided an adequate mechanism for holding staff responsible for his mother’s disappearance.
Held: The Court said that the applicant’s real complaint was that his mother’s disappearance was due to casual negligence by nursing home staff. This would not give rise to a violation by the State authorities of any obligation under article 2. The Court asked whether there was a violation of the Art 2 duty to provide civil, criminal or disciplinary mechanisms for enabling the liability of the staff to be established. This procedural obligation had been violated.
Citations:
59548/00, [2008] ECHR 43
Links:
Statutes:
European Convention on Human Rights
Jurisdiction:
Human Rights
Cited by:
Cited – Savage v South Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (MIND intervening) HL 10-Dec-2008
The deceased had committed suicide on escaping from a mental hospital. The Trust appealed against a refusal to strike out the claim that that they had been negligent in having inadequate security.
Held: The Trust’s appeal failed. The fact that . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Human Rights, Health Professions
Updated: 28 September 2022; Ref: scu.264315