The Petah Tikva Magistrate Court on Monday convicted a caregiver at a residential facility for the disabled in central Israel of negligent homicide, following the death of a resident with an intellectual disability.
The resident choked to death after eating a burekas that had been left unattended in the facility's kitchen. According to the indictment and evidence presented by attorney Daniel Ikan of the Central District Prosecutor's Office, the defendant left a plate of burekas on the kitchen counter in direct violation of facility protocols requiring that unconsumed food be thrown away immediately.
The caregiver did so despite knowing that residents at the facility included women for whom eating solid food was medically prohibited and life-threatening. While the caregiver was attending to another resident, the woman entered the kitchen and ate from the burekas. She choked as a result, was evacuated to hospital sedated and on a ventilator, and was pronounced dead several days later.
In its verdict, the court ruled that the defendant acted in violation of protocols and breached the duty of care required of her, creating an unreasonable risk to the lives of residents at the facility.
