The Tannenhof case

Tannenhof trial reaches its finale next week

In November 2020, the Austrian Armed Forces had to take over the Tannenhof in St. Lorenzen, after which the operator ASB slipped into insolvency

(Bild: ERWIN SCHERIAU / APA / picturedesk.com)

The "Tannenhof nursing home" case has now been going to trial at the Leoben Regional Criminal Court for over a year. The senior citizens' center was completely contaminated during the coronavirus pandemic and 18 residents died as a result of infection. The trial could finally reach its final stage next Wednesday. 

The criminal proceedings in Leoben concerning the Tannenhof care home in St. Lorenzen im Mürztal, which was plagued by coronavirus, have been going on for over a year. As a reminder: five people, including the two managing directors at the time and the head of the home, have to answer for deliberately endangering people with communicable diseases. At the time, 38 of the 49 residents fell ill with Covid-19 and, according to the coroner, 18 of them died, eleven of them in direct connection with coronavirus.

One of the many questions that must now be answered in court is: could the many infections and deaths have been prevented with an appropriate hygiene concept? According to the public prosecutor's office, all prevention concepts were missing, there was no cooperation with the hygiene specialist seconded by the province of Styria and there was no relevant staff training.

Conclusion: The hygiene specialist on site attested to the nursing home's "serious deficiencies in basic hygiene" and criticized the fact that coronavirus patients were not separated from healthy residents. Due to the dramatic situation, the army even had to be called out and temporarily take over the senior citizens' center in order to restore order. 

Trial reaches its finale
In his opening statement, one of the defence lawyers criticized the media for the scandalous reporting that led to the charges being brought in the first place. It will therefore be interesting to hear his closing remarks, which are expected to be made next Wednesday.