Two St Vincent de Paul carers have been suspended after footage emerged showing them treating a patient with “excessive force”.
In a video provided to Times of Malta, a carer is seen pushing an SVPR patient down onto his bed.
The patient is seen trying to hit the carer, as the latter grabs the man's arm and pushes him onto his bed.
The patient has been identified as Leonard Portelli, a 67-year-old artist.
The person taking the video moves to draw the curtains, showing other residents watching the carer manhandle Portelli.
“Please leave me alone,” Portelli says as the carer holds his hands on his chest. “I want to breathe,” he continues.
The person taking the video can be heard telling Portelli to be quiet.
The carer is then seen shoving the patient into a seated position and then walking away.
Sources said the video was taken on November 15.
SVDP investigates
According to St Vincent De Paul CEO, Josianne Cutajar, no incident report was filed, and she was informed of the case when police called her on Monday morning.
“Once we were informed of the situation we immediately launched our own internal investigation,” she told Times of Malta.
“In our opinion, the patient was roughly handled, and the carer used excessive and rough force on him.”
She said apart from the carer seen mishandling Portelli, another carer was also suspended.
A magisterial inquiry has also been opened into the incident, she added.
A spokesperson from the Ministry of Active Ageing confirmed the incident and said internal preliminary investigations are in the progress to gather relevant information concerning the involved resident and staff.
He added that the case has been brought to the attention of the Elderly Commissioner Godfrey Laferla and HealthMark, the private company which provided the two carers to the state-run facility.
A police spokesperson confirmed that police investigations and a magisterial inquiry are currently underway.
The video emerges just months after the disappearance of Carmelo Fino, an 89-year-old dementia sufferer who was placed in an open ward and left the facility in the middle of the night on June 28.
His decomposed body was found under a tree in Birżebbuġa, on July 14.
An inquiry, headed by Judge Geoffrey Valenzia, pinned the responsibility for Fino’s disappearance on the staff on duty that night.
Four security officers, two carers and a nurse at the St Vincent de Paul Residence – all Maltese nationals – have since been suspended on half pay upon the instructions of the Public Service Commission.