Can the death of a resident of De Brink-Akker in Wijster be blamed on the former director of the sheltered housing? The court in Assen will consider that question today. The reason was an incident more than six years ago in which a 59-year-old resident died in his room when no staff were present at the institution.
Care institution De Brink-Akker was located in Wijster from 1982 to 2018, where people with mild intellectual disabilities or depression lived. According to the Public Prosecution Service, the staff was not available on that specific night, from January 19 to 20, 2018, and adequate medical care was not provided. While De Brink-Akker was legally obliged to provide care 24 hours a day.
Former employees previously stated to the Dagblad van het Noorden that after the man’s death, the contact history from his phone was deleted after he tried to call the staff’s emergency number. The Healthcare and Youth Inspectorate has investigated the death in recent years. Witnesses and those involved were immediately interrogated, but the investigation took several years to complete, but ultimately led to the trial today.
There have been no clients living in the institution since September 2018. The care contract with the private institution was canceled by the relevant municipalities of Aa and Hunze, Assen, Midden-Drenthe, Noordenveld and Tynaarlo. The reason for this was the safety of residents and the care that, according to the municipality of Assen, was not provided. The closure caused a lot of unrest. Despite the abuses, several clients refused to leave. “We are not giving up, we are on the right track. I am not going to move, I will keep fighting. I am fighting with the boss,” said one of the residents when the forced closure was announced in 2019.
Several things were going on at De Brink-Akker. An investigation that the municipalities had carried out and which accidentally became public showed, among other things, that the building did not comply with fire safety, a client lived in the chicken barn, there were cameras in the clients’ rooms and the 90-year-old mother of the director took care of the 24-hour care.
After the critical report was leaked, twelve residents were immediately removed from the institution in Wijster on September 11, 2018 and placed at other care locations. ‘One client refused to pack her things at that moment and remained behind in the Brink-Akker. But in the end she too had no choice but to leave Wijster. Especially when the Brink-Akker was declared bankrupt just under a month later. Healthcare institution Oranjeborg eventually came into the picture as a takeover candidate, but withdrew. After that, no healthcare company returned to that location in Wijster.
Today the lawsuit that was delayed for years due to investigation is being held. The 55-year-old former director of De Brink-Akker is before the judge. She is suspected of failing to provide assistance resulting in death.