Four sentenced in Haifa nursing home elder abuse case

Four employees of a Haifa nursing home were sentenced Thursday over extreme mistreatment of elderly residents.

The Haifa District Court sentenced three caregivers, who were found guilty as part of a plea bargain of aggravated assault and “attacks against the helpless.”

Hussam Abu Ahmad, 50, and Andrei Keyes, 49, will serve a prison sentence of one-and-a-half years, and caregiver Peter Goskob was sentenced to nine months in prison, the court said. The prosecution had originally sought jail terms of five to seven years.

The nurse in charge of the unit at the Neot Kipat Hazahav nursing home, Inessa Schneider, was convicted of breach of duty, neglect and failing to report the incidents, and sentenced to six months of community service. The prosecution had sought a 6- to 12-month prison sentence.

In addition, the four will pay compensation to the victims, of sums ranging from NIS 3,000 to 15,000 ($800-$4,000).

The State Prosecutor’s Office said it would examine the sentences and consider an appeal to the Supreme Court.

The abuse came to light after the four were seen in video footage aired by Channel 2 a year ago showing workers brutally punching residents and violently shaking them in order to force them to go to sleep.

The television report also documented appalling hygiene conditions at the Haifa facility, with seniors being forced to sleep on urine-stained mattresses and going days on end without being washed.

The footage was provided to the television station by a Neot Kipat Hazahav worker, who documented the abuse over a period of several months in order to expose what he described as “things I never imagined even in my nightmares.”

After the sentencing, Benny, the son of one of the victims, expressed his dismay at the short prison terms.

“This is not a deterrent — a year and a half is not a severe punishment for the offenses they committed,” he told the Ynet news site.

“My mother is just now beginning to recover. She told me that what they did to her was like armed robbery, and for armed robbery some judges will sentence you to 11 years. There must be a punishment that is a deterrent so that these difficult events in the nursing homes will stop,” he said.

After the initial report aired in 2017, police raided the nursing home, making several arrests, and interrogated dozens of Neot Kipat Hazahav employees. The Health Ministry then summoned senior staff for a hearing and ordered that the facility’s director be replaced with a medical administrator.

Health Minister Yaakov Litzman expressed outrage at the documented abuse, and vowed a thorough review of Israel’s nursing homes that would include firing workers and management officials.

He personally led a team of ministry officials to Neot Kipat Hazahav, where they demanded to inspect the facility and appraise work methods and practices.

Neot Kipat Hazahav had received a high score in a nursing review by the ministry in 2017. Litzman accepted that his ministry’s oversight of the country’s old-age homes has been deficient.

In July 2017, the Welfare Ministry said reports of neglect and abuse of the elderly by family members and caregivers went up 17 percent in 2016, including a 20% rise in reports of sexual abuse.