The residents of the Salamanca neighborhood do not leave their astonishment after learning of the ruling of the court to which the City Hall of Santa Cruz to request the forced entry of a homeless personwho lives in the neighborhood, to receive specialized care, a request that has been denied.
The decision of the court was communicated to them by the councilor for Social Care of Santa Cruz, Rosario González, in a recent meeting with the neighbors, who have been worried for months about the health of this person, whose condition has worsened, and who rejects all kinds of aid. The councilor explained that the Santa Cruz Prosecutor’s Office, at the request of the IMAS, began the procedures regarding that person on October 7, with the communication of the situation of abandonment and vulnerability that he suffers, and that all the neighbors know, that in On more than one occasion they have turned to social services to help this man whose two legs are seriously ill.
The report sent to the court detailed the circumstances in which this person finds himself, who systematically rejects any type of help, despite the poor state of health in which he finds himself, with the aim of demonstrating the need for his admission not volunteer in a specialized center or resource, presenting numerous symptoms that disqualified him from making decisions in the exercise of his full legal capacity.
The arguments of the City Council pointed to the fact that this person was entitled to help and supervision 24 hours a day, in a suitable center, and that given his situation, he was not capable of deciding for himself about his admission, according to the neighbors to DAILY NOTICES.
However, despite the data provided by the municipal social services, the judge in charge of the case denied the authorization requested by the Prosecutor for involuntary commitment due to mental disorder, “since it was not verified that he is not in conditions to decide for himself.
The magistrate supported her decision in the recognition that was made to the interested party from the psychiatry area of the University Hospital of La Candelaria, as well as in the conversation that she had with him through videoconference, in which she was consistent in her answers and in a position to decide for himself.
According to the neighbors, in the meeting with the councilor, González informed them that the possibility of filing a new joint complaint between IMAS, the Centro-Ifara District and the Arboleda Neighborhood Association itself with new arguments is being analyzed.
The neighbors advance that they plan to carry out another new signature campaign, but this time through social networks, to try to achieve 500 signatures with the collaboration of all the neighbors. With the previous campaign on paper, 200 were achieved.
Difficulty dealing with those who refuse the help offered to them
The residents of the Salamanca neighborhood have tried to help the homeless person who lives on its streets, with whom they come across daily and who they have seen how it has been deteriorating in recent months. The Mobile Approach Unit periodically approaches these people to help them and invite them to go to the hospital, meeting most of the time with their refusal. Only a judge can force someone to receive help, and this, as has been shown, is very complicated, since it is about depriving a person of liberty who, without psychiatric pathologies that affect him, is within his right to refuse .
