Jontes Olofsson’s father lost 20 kilos when he moved to a nursing home.
In January, he died severely malnourished.
Now the son directs sharp criticism towards the care for the elderly.
– If a person is starving to death, you have to do something, he says.
After a fall accident, Jonte Olofsson’s father Christer had difficulties with speech and eating. He was moved to a nursing home where he was tube fed and things got better. But when it was removed, he lost weight. He found it difficult to swallow and quickly became severely malnourished.
– We think the reason is that he was afraid to strangle. And then only the staff accept it and then they take the food away, he says.
6 out of 10 are at risk of being malnourished
Being malnourished as an elderly person can be life-threatening. According to the national quality register Senior alert, 6 out of 10 patients in elderly care are at risk of becoming malnourished. In order to overcome the problem, the Swedish Academy of Food is running the “zero vision for malnutrition in the elderly” initiative.
– Food must play a central role in all municipalities throughout the country. There must be better cooperation between the municipalities and the regions. A national decision is also needed, but a long-term focus, says Pernilla Fagerlin, project manager at the Food Academy.
“Surely they could have done something?”
Malnutrition is a complex problem. The background may be several interacting factors which mean that the elderly do not get enough nutrition. Jonte Olofsson wonders why the tube feeding was removed without following up on how it went.
– If a person is starving to death, you have to do something. I’m no expert but surely they could have done something? Give him nutritional drinks or go back to tube feeding.
In January, Jonte’s father died, aged 75 and weighing only 42 kilos. Jonte has been trying to figure out why no one did anything about his father’s malnutrition. TV4 Nyheterna has searched the nursing home on several occasions without success.
– He had a great life and suddenly it was gone. All of a sudden it looked like he was 105 years old instead of 75 years old. If they had only weighed him and seen that he weighed 44 kilos, they would have realized that something was wrong.