Geriatrics professor Yngve Gustafson is one of those who questioned the care of the elderly and called it discriminatory. For example, it is about physicians initiating palliative care of coronary-infected elderly without first meeting the patient. The debate has also been about the elderly not receiving emergency care to the same extent as younger patients.

But SVT News West has talked to doctors who are responsible for three of the worst-hit elderly homes in Gothenburg: Fiskebäck, Geråshus and Kviberg. They all mean that the criticism is not right, and say that patients are often too fragile to be taken to hospital.

"Extremely fragile"

At Geråshus, 28 people have died with ascertained or suspected covid-19. Everyone had to see a doctor after they were infected.

But why have so many elderly people died at Geråshus with covid-19 infection?

- Firstly, the infection came in, that is the most important explanation. In the dementia department there are people who are extremely fragile, purely in terms of health. On the one hand, they have dementia disease which in itself means that you have weaker resistance. Almost in all cases, they also have other complicating diseases, says Christer Andersson, responsible physician.

None of the 28 who died were taken to hospital for care because they had failed to do so, the doctor says.

"It's simply an increased mortality rate when you send them to emergency hospitals," he says.

Instead, they received various symptom-relieving treatments in place. Two relatives of two elderly people who have died at Geråshus also confirm that their relatives were in poor condition to be sent to hospital.

"No one is denied hospital care"

At Kviberg's elderly home, 19 people have died with a confirmed infection. Here, too, it is about the elderly who have been in very poor condition even before being infected, says doctor Cornel Popa. And no one who wants hospital care is denied this, even though the doctor may consider it better to stay in the elderly.

- If the relatives do not agree with us, we will respect it. If there is a serious deterioration, we call the ambulance. One (of those who died in covid-19, red note) was in hospital and returned, he says.