Swedish man lay 'dead for weeks' in Lund flat

A man in Lund, southern Sweden, lay dead in his house for weeks before his body was discovered, as visiting care staff had left after the man failed to answer his door.

The man had been dead for several weeks when he was finally found after neighbours reported a strong smell emanating from the stairwell.

“We have been there and rung the door bell, but he never opened. We made the mistake of not checking why he never answered,” said Karin Mars of the local authorities in Lund .

The staff should visit their patients twice a week, but according to a lex Sarah report, a law obliging staff in the care industry to report instances of mistreatment to the social services, the care staff had simply not followed up on unanswered efforts.

In the end it was the care personnel who discovered the body, after using a spare key to enter the building, according to Sveriges Television (SVT).

“Apparently, the staff have not been adequately informed of our practices,” said Seth Pettersson, head of nursing and care management in Lund, to SVT.

“One can conclude that we have failed. Staff should report if they do not make contact with the patient and this has not happened,” said Pettersson.

However, Petterson does not link the death to the failed attempts to visit the man, adding that this was ‘a very long drawn conclusion’.

Petterson claimed that the municipality was tightening its procedures after the incident.

The cause of death is still unknown, and interviews are being carried out by relevant staff, according to the TT news agency.