The body found today in a wood behind the Colégio de São José, Lisbon, has been identified as that of Avelina Ferreira, who disappeared in December last year, a source close to the family told Lusa.
Avelina Ferreira, 73, disappeared on December 12 last year, after entering the emergency room of the São Francisco Xavier Hospital.
This morning a police source said that at 10:40 a.m. a body in an advanced state of decomposition was found in the woods behind the Colégio de São José, near the São Francisco Xavier Hospital in Lisbon.
At the time, the police source said they did not know the identity and did not indicate the sex or age.
Avelina Ferreira had disappeared after entering the hospital’s emergency room alone, as her husband had been prevented from accompanying her. Her husband waited outside the emergency room for seven hours before discovering that Avelina had disappeared without anyone noticing.
The family blamed the hospital for preventing her husband from accompanying Avelina Ferreira to the emergency room and forcing him to wait in the waiting room.
And in January it launched a petition calling for mechanisms to prevent the disappearance of people with dementia.
When questioned by Lusa, the source said that the procedures launched in January are continuing, but did not know if the family will take any other measures.
