The family of the elderly woman buried with the wrong name: Who is to blame for what happened in the B.A.?

September 5, 2021   

The Ministry of Health announced today (Sunday) the establishment of a committee to examine a "serious and unfortunate case" in which a woman who died of coronavirus was buried under a different name.

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According to the ministry's announcement, the incident occurred in the coronavirus ward at the 'Vetikim' geriatric hospital in Bnei Brak, to which the woman, Chaya Freiman, 86, from Ashkelon, was transferred from the 'Neot Avi' nursing home in the city, along with another resident who had contracted the virus.

After her death was determined, the details of the second resident and not Freiman were accidentally listed on the death list.

Freiman was laid to rest accompanied by the resident's relatives, whose details were provided.

The Health Ministry says that a team from the ministry will accompany the grieving family and submit its conclusions soon.

The 'Vetikim' nursing home in Bnei Brak, where the incident occurred, claims that the source of the misidentification was the nursing home from which the two elderly women came, 'Neot Avi' in Ashkelon, where they attached the other's name to each of the two - with each of their names appearing on the other's bracelet, and without a photocopy of an ID card or other means of identification, contrary to Ministry of Health procedures. They also claimed that due to the condition of the two, it was not possible to communicate with them and discover the mistake, and therefore they were registered under incorrect names.

In a post published by Zehavit Pitousi, the elderly woman's granddaughter, on her Facebook page, she described the sequence of events from her family's perspective - and attacked:

""It all started a week ago on 08/28 when my 86-year-old grandmother, who has advanced dementia, was diagnosed with COVID-19. When they found out she was positive, they decided to send her to a nursing home in Bnei Brak where there is a ward for COVID-19 patients. So far so good (or not). We were informed of the move, they explained where she was going, and my mother confirmed everything and asked how she was feeling. She was told that she was feeling well and had no symptoms at the moment... After that, my mother called again to check on her well-being and was told that she was eating and that she was perfectly fine, which of course reassured my mother a lot. Two days after that conversation, a social worker called my mother and said that she needed to come to our house, because something strange had happened and that grandma had passed away 3 days ago! And that was just the beginning of this crazy story. A social worker, the director of the nursing home, and a doctor from the nursing home came to our house, and if I'm not mistaken, a district doctor told us so... and they told us that our grandma had actually passed away 3 years ago. Days of Corona while we were told that she was alive and everything was great with her! There was confusion with the name of someone else who was being treated there and that they had already buried our grandmother in a cemetery in Be'er Sheva! Of course we didn't understand what we were hearing at all?! Our eyes darkened and we didn't understand, really... They continue to say that another family held a funeral for her (because they thought it was their mother/grandmother). When we asked how such a thing could happen and how it made sense that no one came to identify the body or how her permanent nursing home had not been notified of her passing, of course we didn't get any sensible answers. All we heard was: 'We don't know, we're still checking'... The day after we called, we investigated and looked for answers and discovered that they were very difficult to find and that the story had suddenly changed. Now we are told that the resident with whom the 'confusion' happened is not even a minor! Without a family or children. When we asked who identified the body, of course we didn't get an answer. We are in contact with the Ministry of Health, which is not providing answers and even when we said that something here doesn't seem right to us and we want to perform an autopsy after Death, because we no longer believe a word here, we were told that it is possible but most likely we will not be able to get correct information because it has been a long time since the body was buried. "We feel like we are simply being lied to endlessly, we have no answers about what happened to my grandmother and it burns our souls to know what she may have gone through and that we could not even accompany her normally according to the halacha on her last journey and sit 'sheba' for her in a normal way. "It is simply inconceivable that something like this is happening in the State of Israel in 2021. It breaks our heart to know that my grandmother is buried in Be'er Sheva and that we have to take her body out for an autopsy after death and disturb her rest. We really feel like our world has been destroyed.".

The 'Vetikim' Geriatric Hospital in Bnei Brak, to which the women were evacuated, told 'Kan News': "At the request of the Ministry of Health, we have opened a department for nursing home elderly patients with coronavirus, to which the Ministry of Health urgently refers elderly people who have been confirmed to be infected in other geriatric institutions. These elderly people are not recognized in the receiving department and arrive with identification sent by the sending institution.

""Due to an error by the sending institution, which switched the means of identification between the two elderly women who were sent, they were admitted to us under the wrong names. When one of them unfortunately passed away, she was mistakenly identified as the other. It should be emphasized that the 'Vetikim' institution acted according to the procedures and guidelines of the Ministry of Health. Following the unfortunate incident, the Ministry of Health changed the procedure.".

The 'Neot Avi' nursing home in Ashkelon, from which the women were evacuated, said: "According to the Ministry of Health's instructions, the nursing home transferred the isolated residents and those with coronavirus symptoms to the 'Veterans Center', with all residents wearing printed identification bracelets with their names and additional medical details. Last Monday, the center updated that one of the residents had passed away. A message was given to her family according to the 'Veterans Center' report of her passing.

""Ahead of the holiday, 'Neot Avi' sent holiday gifts to all the residents and asked to take pictures of them receiving the gifts, to make the families happy. In the photos sent, 'Neot Avi' discovered with complete astonishment that the resident who 'died' according to the 'Veterans Center' report was photographed with the gift. Upon learning of the 'Veterans Center's' erroneous reporting omission, 'Neot Avi' contacted the Ministry of Health and the 'Veterans Center' director with an immediate demand to begin an investigation into the incident. The resident who was mistakenly reported as deceased was mistakenly tagged by 'Veterans Center' with the wrong name of another resident.

""Neot Avi takes a serious view of the negligent conduct of the Veterans Center in the incident, which caused disregard for human life and the feelings of families. Neot Avi contacted the Ministry of Health several times and repeatedly requested to keep the isolated residents in a designated ward with them instead of transferring them to the Veterans Center, but the Ministry of Health refused their requests and ordered the sick residents to be transferred.".