Department of the Family (DF) Secretary Suzanne Roig Fuertes said in a radio interview with WKAQ-580 that an ongoing investigation into Hogar Casa Dorada, an elder care home in Las Piedras, had not yet reached the point where the agency could legally take the case to court, prior to the discovery of an abused elderly woman there over the weekend. Roig Fuertes said DF had already relocated elderly residents for whom it had primary responsibility and who were subsidized by the department. She said the agency had also warned families who privately placed relatives in the home about its concerns and the ongoing investigation into prior issues, but that two families chose to keep their relatives there anyway.
According to preliminary information, a 911 call Saturday reported a “disoriented” caregiver at the home. Responders found an 86-year-old woman, who is partially blind and bedridden, on the floor of a structure beneath the house, suffering abrasions and head trauma; she was taken to a hospital. The caregiver reportedly claimed he moved her there as part of a “ritual” so she could “die in peace,” freeing space for new patients.
He was arrested and taken into custody.