An elderly Spanish woman stunned her family when she showed up at the nursing home – more than a week after they were told she had died of COVID-19.
Rogelia Blanco’s relatives were informed that the 85-year-old woman died of the virus on January 13 and that her funeral was the next day, according to the newspaper La Voz de Galicia. They were unable to attend due to protocols in place during the pandemic.
But on Saturday – 10 days later – he returned home to Xove, northern Spain. Her husband, who also lives there, was in a state of shock.
“I couldn’t believe it,” her husband told the newspaper. “I was crying after my wife’s death.”
The confusion happened when Blanco and other residents who tested positive for COVID-19 were transferred to another home, the Os Gozos residence in Pereiro de Aguiar, about 139 miles away, for specialized treatment late last month.
The woman who died was actually Blanco’s roommate.
“Among the transferred elderly people were two women who were assigned the same room,” the San Rosendo Foundation, which runs the Xove nursing home, told the newspaper. “An identification error during the transfer process from Xove to Pereiro de Aguiar led to the death of one of them on January 13, although the identity was incorrectly assigned.”
The foundation expressed regret and called the mix “an unfortunate incident,” according to the newspaper.
“This is a unique event, among the over 100 transfers that have been made since December last year to Os Gozos,” the statement said.
A court was informed to overturn the mistake.
With Post threads