The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office on Thursday launched an investigation into alleged mistreatment of patients at Kaohsiung’s Lungfatang (龍發堂) psychiatric care facility after multiple reports of inhumane treatment of patients and outbreaks of infectious diseases.
The Kaohsiung Department of Health said it received notice from the prosecutors’ office on Wednesday night to forward death certificates and medical records of all 97 patients who died in the past eight years to the office.
Department Deputy Director Lin Mang-chiao (林盟喬) said the mortality rate at the sanatorium is higher than the average for mental healthcare facilities.
The facility has a mortality rate of 12 patients per year, which is much higher than the average of seven reported by municipal psychiatric care facilities, department official Su Shu-fang (蘇淑芳) said.
The average age of deceased patients at Lungfatang is 56, which is also far less than the average of 63 at municipal facilities, Su said.
Medical records of the deceased patients showed more than half experienced diarrhea, drastic weight loss, malnutrition or external injuries one to two weeks before they died, Lin said.
There seem to be mismanagement and improper care at the facility, Lin added.
All patients of the sanatorium visit the same hospital and most medical records and death certificates were issued by that hospital, the department said.
Although death certificates list odd and unanswerable causes of death, the department said that it only had authority to investigate the executive aspect of the facility, adding that it forwarded all questionable death certificates to the prosecutors’ office.
The sanatorium on Wednesday issued a statement saying the figures offered by the department were vague and put the facility at a disadvantage.
All patients who had a questionable cause of death had been reported to police as per regulations, the sanatorium said, adding that if there had been any questions the coroner would have asked.
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