“I saw how the nurse touched a patient. That’s why he avoided eating the pastries. I was afraid that something would happen to me. On February 15, 2022, many things happened. I hope they see the cameras. This is just one testimony of many against the nurse Jorge Enrique Pérez, from the La Victoria hospital.
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Abusive touching and rape of women, including a minor, in a state of complete defenselessness, are part of the claims against the assistant, on which fall at least eleven complaints.
This official worked in the mental health unit of the La Victoria hospital, well known in San Cristóbal, in the south of Bogotá, for the care of patients with mental health problems.
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This secret that sounded in the corridors of the hospital and of which several employees of the place were aware, exploded due to the complaint of one of the victims, who narrated that on Friday, April 1, during the night rest shift, they found Pérez hidden. behind the door of the room where four patients were sleeping.
It is known that one of the victims was immobilized hands and feet. It was also known that before the abuse a scream was heard and that is why a nurse came to the room, who was the one who noticed the scene. She said that one of the patients reported that the nurse was performing oral sex on the patients. When they lifted the covers off one of them, she had her underwear below her knees. The aggressor would have taken advantage of the state of sedation in which he was.
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The most serious thing is that during the first inquiries by the authorities, many more victims said they had been victims of abusive touching at the hands of the same official, including that a partner of the alleged aggressor had bathed one of the victims after learning of the complaint. Perez was already known to hospital staff for having strange behavior. Many wondered why he used to stay in the hospital after his shift was over.
What did the District say?
The Secretaries of Health and Women issued a joint statement to respond to the very serious complaints from the families of the victims and the hospital workers. They explained that initially four affected women were identified, but that when the case was approached by the lawyers of the Secretariat for Women in ten hospitals, and with the support of the La Victoria hospital team, seven more possible victims were identified, all patients of the Mental Unit of the hospital. Once this situation was known, socio-legal assistance was provided to the citizens and family members who required it.
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On the same April 1, the entity filed a complaint in the case of the 11 possible victims and articulated with the Prosecutor’s Office, through the local prosecutor 420, what was necessary to generate the criminal news and to speed up the investigation and the work. Judicial Police.
Negligence?
Something equally serious will have to be established during this investigation, since several hospital workers say they have denounced the situation and that the response of the directives was that due to lack of personnel nothing could be done. “A year ago that situation had been denounced. I can’t believe that on top of the abuse towards a woman it is superimposed that personnel are needed “said an employee.
The Ministry of Health indicated that it is carrying out actions to establish the alleged failures in health care. “As a result of the verification visits carried out and given the evidence of risk in human talent and priority processes, on April 5, a security measure was imposed consisting of the temporary and preventive closure of the mental hospitalization service of the health services unit La Victory”.
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Actions will also be carried out to verify and monitor the management of opportunities for improvement in both the public and private networks. “In relation to the alleged punishable acts that may have been committed, the judicial authorities will be in charge of clarifying and imposing the corresponding sanctions. Likewise, it is up to the ethics courts to advance the actions related to the presumed ethical-professional failures of the health personnel that may be involved”said the Secretary of Health, Alejandro Gómez.
Carol Malaver
Deputy Editor Bogota
*Write to us at [email protected] if you were a victim of abuse in this hospital
@CarolMalaver