UK coronavirus deaths remain undetected at home for two weeks
People have died at home alone of Covid-19 during the pandemic and some people have not been found for up to two weeks, say doctors who have investigated the deaths.
At the start of the pandemic we reported how people were dying alone in Italy due to the pressure of hospitals. Now, we sadly report undetected deaths in the UK. The bodies have only been discovered after a relative, friend or neighbour has raised the alarm and in many cases the deaths have gone undetected for so long that the bodies had started to decompose.
Campaigners for the elderly said this highlighted the vulnerability of isolated older people living on their own with little family support. It also highlights the risks being run by large numbers of patients who have avoided hospitals and GP surgeries due to fear of coronavirus.
“People have lain undiscovered during the pandemic for seven to 14 days,” said Dr Mike Osborn, a senior pathologist in London and the chair of the death investigation committee at the Royal College of Pathologists.
“I’ve seen plenty of such cases like this, where bodies are decomposed, in the Covid outbreak and also done postmortems in ‘query Covid’ cases [where the disease was suspected].”
The decomposition makes identifying the exact cause of death difficult, Osborne stressed. However, despite this, he was able to establish that some such deaths were as a result of Covid-19.
Doctors believe that several dozen cases occurred in London throughout March, April and May.
During the pandemic doctors have certified the deaths of 700 people who lived at home in London, with or without relatives. Medics involved in ascertaining the cause of these deaths say that in many cases they have either confirmed coronavirus as the cause or judged that, combined with underlying poor health, it was likely to have contributed or resulted in the person’s death
“We always feared that a number of older people would be found dead alone at home, either victims of the virus or of something else, and it is extremely sad to find that this is indeed the case,” said Caroline Abrahams, the charity director of Age UK.
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Original Source: Ground News
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