Miami.– begins Holocaust Against the operator of the nursing home Florida Involuntary manslaughter charges against nine patients who died of heatstroke following the passage of Hurricane Irma in 2017.
Prosecutor Chris Killoran argued before a six-member jury this Monday, February 6, that George Carballo, 65, was guilty of murder because he did not give proper instructions to his staff at the Hollywood Hills Rehabilitation Center after a power outage. Affecting the air conditioner of the establishment.
According to the prosecutor, Carballo went home after learning that it was hellishly hot inside the two-story, 150-bed facility. “He didn’t order his patients to be evacuated to the Regional Memorial Hospital across the street from where the air conditioning was working.”
Killoran said, “This is an example of a captain who abandoned his slowly sinking ship, leaving not only his crew but also his passengers to fend for themselves.”
Prosecutors must prove that Carballo acted negligently, showing gross disregard and carelessness for the safety of his patients.
As the temperature rose, he “purchased some fans from his staff to push the hot air out and installed some air conditioning units” but this was not done correctly and to make matters worse, the temperature rose to the second floor where Attacks happened.
If convicted, Carballo could face up to 15 years in prison. However, he lacks a criminal record in his favor.
For his part, attorney James Cobb said his client did everything in his power to protect his patients. He ordered the employees to inform Florida Power & Light (FPL) about power loss in air conditioner. He also claimed that Carballo was following a protocol that put frail elderly patients at risk of death.
“It’s a case of “scapegoating” to avoid placing blame where it belongs: the power company that delayed restoring power, said Cobb, who acquitted two New Orleans nursing home owners a few years ago. In 2005, 35 patients drowned during the floods caused by Hurricane Katrina.
“It was not a captain who abandoned ship” and the jury was shown two photographs of Carballo working with his crew during the emergency.
The deaths began three days after gusty winds from Hurricane Irma knocked out a transformer that powered the refrigeration system.
Carballo and the center’s manager contacted FPL when the power went out, according to the report. When none arrived, they contacted Gov. Rick Scott and city officials. Despite all efforts, help did not reach.
On September 12, two days after the storm, nursing home patients were taken to the Memorial Regional Emergency Room. They were 103 degrees hot and up.
Memorial’s head nurse came to the nursing home to help with her assistant, Tracy Meltzer.
The Associated Press agency collected testimony from the two at the trial, according to which, “when they entered at 6:00 a.m., the heat was terrible and the nurses worked frantically.”
Meltzer said that upon reaching the second floor, he found two dead men in a room and a woman lying in a diaper covered in urine and feces. He also said that one of the nurses said that “the patients were dropping like flies. We have to get these people out of here.”
The fire department decided to evacuate all patients, transfer them to a hospital, and issued a mass casualty alert.
The trial should last for several weeks. The relatives of the victims have filed a case of negligence. Carballo was originally charged with 12 counts, but three have been dismissed.
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