Case at the Zurich Higher Court – nurse convicted because 30-year-old drowned in bathtub

The higher court has sentenced a now 59-year-old nurse, who briefly left a resident of a home out of sight, for negligent homicide to a conditional fine.

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Thomas Hasler

Published: 03/15/2021, 7:39 pm—

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What happened in August 2017 in a home for the disabled in the Zurich Oberland, the judge in charge of the proceedings, Christian Prinz, called a case of “shocking tragedy”, which the court also seized: A thirty-year-old, severely disabled man who is not only at the developmental stage of a three-to-three four-year-old child, but also suffered from epilepsy, drowned in the bathtub.

The public prosecutor’s office blamed a nurse who was 55 years old at the time, who had the duty of care and supervision that evening. The woman, who had worked as a carer for disabled people in various institutions for around thirty years, did not continuously monitor the man, as was prescribed. That’s why she noticed too late that the 30-year-old had got his head under water – possibly because of an epileptic seizure. When the nurse came in, the man was already lying motionless in the water.

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