Our reporter Feng Li reports from Beijing.
According to data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, by the end of 2022, China's elderly population aged 60 and above has exceeded 2800 million people, or 19 percent of the total population8%γThe report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out: "Implement the national strategy of actively responding to the aging of the population, develop the pension industry and the pension industry, optimize the services for the elderly who are alone and widowed, and promote the realization of basic pension services for all the elderly." β
On February 20, 2024, the Supreme People's Court released a typical case of civil disputes involving elderly care services, which is intended to standardize elderly care services through judicial adjudication, protect the legitimate rights and interests of the elderly, and guide the healthy operation of elderly care institutions.
China's population aging trend is obvious, this year's Beijing "** work report" proposed that in 2024, Beijing will build 2,000 new home care beds for the elderly. How to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the elderly and promote the healthy development of the pension industry has become a problem that the whole society must care about and think about.
Shi Yingxiu, deputy to the Beijing Municipal People's Congress, member of the National Aging Health Expert Group of the National Health Commission, and chairman of the Beijing Saiwojia Pension Service, told the reporter of China Business Daily: "We have reached such a high proportion of aging, and the service agencies of the whole society should be able to provide suitable services for the elderly according to the physical and mental characteristics of the elderly, which are both professional and safe for the elderly." At present, many industries may not have taken into account the safety and physical and mental characteristics of the elderly in nursing institutions, and some services cannot match the needs of the elderly. β
She said that to adapt to an aging society, social service organizations should have a certain degree of adaptability to the elderly, or the ability to serve the elderly.
In 2024, the first document "Opinions on Developing the Silver Economy and Improving the Well-being of the Elderly" launched 26 measures for the development of the silver economy for the first time.
The elderly died of carbon monoxide poisoning due to the opening of a bathroom in the nursing home, and the judgment was jointly and severally compensated
As a place of business, elderly care institutions have the obligation to ensure the safety of the elderly who live in them. However, some pension institutions have failed to fulfill this obligation, causing damage to the rights and interests of the elderly. The reporter noticed that in a case of joint infringement between an elderly care institution and a third party, the bathroom on the first floor of the elderly care institution produced carbon monoxide during the operation process, which penetrated into the room where the elderly lived, resulting in the death of the elderly. The court held that the elderly care institution failed to fulfill its safety and security obligations, and the operator of the bathroom constituted joint infringement, and the two should be jointly and severally liable.
Pan Moumou was admitted to a nursing home and enjoyed first-level care. The room where Pan lived was located on the third floor, and a chimney was installed on the wall on the right side of the window of the room, which was the exhaust pipe of a gas hot water boiler in a bathroom on the first floor, and the chimney pipe was close to the window. There is a housing lease relationship between a nursing home and a bathroom.
In the early morning of one day, when the caregiver went to Pan's room to inspect and found an abnormality, he sent the old man to the emergency department of the hospital and notified the family. Pan Moumou was diagnosed with carbon monoxide poisoning and was hospitalized** and later died. After investigation, the gas hot water boiler produced carbon monoxide in the process of operation, which penetrated into Pan's house through the exhaust pipe.
Pan's heir, Wang, sued, requesting that a nursing home and a bathroom jointly compensate for funeral expenses, death compensation, and solatium for mental damages. The trial court held that a nursing home, as a nursing institution, should fulfill its full duty of safety protection to Pan, and should exercise a higher duty of care for the safety of buildings, supporting facilities, and equipment. The bathroom exhaust pipe is close to the window of Pan's room, and a nursing home should have foreseen a certain danger, but it did not require the bathroom to make necessary rectifications to the exhaust pipe, nor did it take corresponding preventive measures. A bathroom was responsible for the installation and laying of exhaust pipes, and did not take effective protective measures when using the gas boiler, causing carbon monoxide leakage and infiltrating into Pan's house.
The court ruled that a nursing home and a bathroom jointly committed tortious acts, resulting in carbon monoxide poisoning by Pan, and should be jointly and severally liable for compensation. This case is worthy of the alarm of pension institutions and other operators.
Shi Yingxiu's comments: It is suggested that pension institutions should not only be responsible for their own business safety, but also pay attention to other factors that may affect the health of the elderly or affect the safety of the elderly, and prevent and predict various factors that may threaten the health of the elderly.
The elderly care institution did not renovate the place for the elderly, resulting in the elderly falling and fracture and being judged responsible
When Ma Moumou was admitted to a nursing center, a nursing center assessed his physical condition, and the score of "walking on flat ground" was 10 points and 15 points. The Morse Fall Assessment Scale states that Ma Moumou has no fall records in the past three months, and is assessed as a "low-risk standard fall prevention measure".
One day, Ma Moumou fell on the way to the bathroom in a nursing center and fractured his bones, which healed after hospitalization. **According to the data, there is a manhole cover in the courtyard of the nursing center, which is located opposite the entrance and exit of the gate, and the manhole cover and its lower edge are significantly higher than the surrounding ground by several centimeters, and are on the daily traffic road. Ma Moumou claimed that he was injured by tripping over a manhole cover, and sued a pension center to bear the liability for compensation.
The trial court held that a certain elderly care center did not carry out renovation of its business premises for the elderly, and the manhole covers on the passages in its premises that were higher than the ground posed a safety threat to the actions of the elderly, causing Ma Moumou to fall and be injured, and that a certain elderly care center was at fault. According to the degree of fault and the degree of participation in the consequences of the damage, a pension center is determined to bear 60% of the liability for compensation.
The Supreme People's Court held that elderly care institutions, as business premises that provide services for the elderly, should renovate their premises and facilities for the elderly, and investigate and eliminate potential safety hazards that may cause danger and hindrance to the elderly.
Those who neglect to perform the above obligations shall bear tort liability commensurate with their fault.
Shi Yingxiu's comments: This case is caused by the unscientific and unreasonable setting of facilities for the elderly. She reminded the person in charge of the elderly care institution to do a good job in the renovation of internal facilities for the elderly and daily safety inspections, especially in the process of renovation and renovation, to pay attention to the scientific setting of facilities for the elderly.
The elderly man with dementia died of illness after beating another elderly person to death, and the elderly apartment was found responsible
This is a case of damage to the elderly caused by the behavior of a third party, and the elderly care institution failed to fulfill its safety and security obligations. Yin Moumou and Tang Moumou are both elderly apartment supporters. The two had a grudge over trivial matters. One day, while the nurse was leaving, Tang Moumou took an iron rod from his room and hit Yin Moumou on the head while he was asleep, causing his death. Later, Tang Moumou was forensically identified as: 1organic intellectual impairment (dementia); 2.At the time of the case, Tang XX had limited capacity for criminal responsibility. During the trial of the criminal case, Tang XX died of illness, and the trial of the criminal case was terminated. Later, Yin's heir, Li Moumou, sued an elderly apartment and Tang's heir, demanding compensation.
The trial court held that a certain elderly apartment has a duty to ensure the safety of the occupants, and if it fails to fulfill its obligation to ensure safety and causes damage to others, it should bear civil liability. An elderly apartment failed to promptly clean up the iron rods and other dangerous items left behind after the renovation, causing Tang XX to hold iron rods, and did not take special care measures for the elderly with intellectual disabilities who lived in, and failed to fulfill the basic safety and security obligations of prevention and maintenance, so it should bear 30% supplementary responsibility for Yin's death.
Shi Yingxiu's comments: This case is a problem in the management of elderly care institutions, and dangerous equipment is not well managed. She also cited another case in which an elderly man with dementia burned another old man's quilt with a lighter, almost setting the nursing home on fire, but fortunately the fire was extinguished in time to prevent a catastrophe. Elderly care institutions are reminded to fulfill their management obligations for dangerous equipment, including fire, fire sources, knives, sticks, etc.
Pension institutions are not operating well and frequently change their service locations, and terminate the contract and refund the pension service fees
Due to poor management, a pension institution arranged the elderly to Yunnan, Sichuan and other places after the operation of the pension base agreed in the contract was suspended, resulting in a service contract dispute case. The reporter learned from the trial court that the court took this case as a model and successfully resolved more than 100 disputes over similar pension service contracts before litigation.
Xiang XX signed the "Pension Institution Service Contract" with a company, and agreed that a company would provide pension services to XX and pay more than 30,000 yuan in advance. After the contract is signed, Xiang XX will live in the pension base in Chongqing as agreed in the contract. In the second year, the base suspended operations, and Xiang XX was arranged to live in Yunnan, Sichuan and other places. After that, Xiang XX returned to Chongqing and did not receive pension services again. Sue XX for a refund of unconsumed pension service fees.
The trial court held that the service contract formed between Xiang XX and XX was legal and valid, and both parties should perform according to the contract. However, a company frequently changed the location of providing pension services, which caused inconvenience to Xiang XX, violated the contract, and Xiang XX had the right to terminate the contract and request a refund of the remaining pension service fees, so it was decided that a company should refund more than 10,000 yuan of pension service fees.
Shi Yingxiu's comments: From this case, the elderly should also pay attention to protecting their legitimate rights and interests, if the pension institution can not provide services consistent with the contract, the elderly have the right to claim a refund from the pension institution.
If an elderly person suddenly falls ill, the court rules that the elderly care institution is not liable for fulfilling its obligation to provide assistance
If the elderly care institution has fully fulfilled the service contract, it will not be liable. In a case of sudden illness of the elderly, the court held that the elderly care institution had fulfilled its contractual obligations equivalent to its nursing model, so it did not need to be held liable from the process of the elderly person staying in the hospital, falling, sudden illness, and sending to the hospital for treatment.
Before Wang moved into an apartment for the elderly, the apartment for the elderly carried out a health assessment for him, and signed the "Custody Service Agreement" with Wang (Party B) and Wang A (Party C, a child of Wang) as Party A, stipulating that if Party B suddenly fell ill, Party A should promptly notify Party C, and Party C should decide which hospital to receive rescue and **, or Party C agreed to call 120 for emergency treatment in time. At the same time, the apartment for the elderly was informed of the potential accident risks of the elderly, and Wang Moujia signed the "Letter of Commitment to Know the Adopter".
One night, when the staff was inspecting, they found that Wang had fallen in the room, so they helped Wang up and notified his family. After being sent to the hospital, Wang was diagnosed with "massive cerebral infarction with hemorrhagic transformation", etc., and later died. Wang Moujia believed that there was improper management of an elderly apartment, resulting in Wang not receiving reasonable treatment, and sued for compensation.
The judgment shows that an elderly apartment carried out a health assessment for Wang's admission, and the "Care Service Agreement" clearly stipulates the handling and responsibility of possible situations such as "self-fall and sudden illness". Judging from the process of Wang's check-in, fall, sudden illness, and medical treatment, there is no obvious impropriety in the behavior of an elderly apartment. Therefore, the judgment rejected Wang Moujia's litigation claim.
The Supreme People's Court held that in this case, the elderly care institution carried out an admission assessment for the elderly residents, and Wang Moujia also recognized and chose the semi-nursing care model and signed the relevant commitments. Judging from the process of Wang's check-in, fall, sudden illness, and medical treatment, the behavior of a certain elderly apartment was in line with the provisions of the "Care Service Agreement" and fulfilled the obligation of timely assistance, and the trial court rejected Wang Moujia's litigation claim on this basis. The judgment in this case resolutely prevents "harmony and mud", which is of great significance to guide the parties to follow the law.
Shi Yingxiu's comments: She was diagnosed with "massive cerebral infarction with hemorrhagic transformation", which is a typical death caused by sudden disease. The nursing institution has fulfilled its obligation to treat the disease in a timely manner in the process of disease outbreak, and the contract signed by the two parties is a semi-nursing pension model, not one-to-one full care, so the nursing institution has no responsibility.
She reminded the elderly care institutions to treat the elderly in a timely manner when they suddenly fall ill, notify their families in time, and keep the evidence. "This is a very representative case, and it is also necessary to protect the legitimate rights and interests of elderly care institutions. If the elderly care institution has done a good job of rescue and treatment, including the work of signing the contract, and the elderly die due to sudden illness, as long as the elderly care institution has fulfilled the obligation of treatment and notification within its ability, it should be accepted by the family. β
Editor: Meng Qingwei Proofreader: Zhai Jun).