Yesterday morning, Wednesday, December 10, officers from the Criminal Investigation Division of the Public Security Police (PSP) in Lisbon discovered the body of an elderly man in an advanced state of decomposition near the headquarters of this unit, located on Estrada do Forte do Alto do Duque.
The grim discovery was made at around 11:00 am while police were conducting maintenance work at the station. When initially reported, it was suspected that the man had been at the São Francisco Xavier Hospital before his death, as he was wearing a hospital bracelet from the healthcare facility, located less than a kilometer away — about a three-minute drive — from where the body was found.
Later, São Francisco Xavier Hospital issued a statement confirming that the deceased was a patient of the hospital, who had disappeared from an emergency consultation nearly a month ago.
The statement clarifies that the man was admitted to the Emergency Service of this Local Health Unit (ULS) on November 14 and that during the urgent care episode, the patient was triaged, examined, and underwent various diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. He was oriented and autonomous, thus not requiring a location bracelet.
However, when a new call for observation was made, the patient did not respond.
The hospital attempted to contact the man as well as his emergency contact, but “without success,” explained the hospital. As a result, the PSP was notified, and it was considered that the patient had abandoned the Emergency Service, added the statement.
The ULS Lisbon Ocidental, of which the hospital is a part, concluded that all appropriate efforts from an assistance and procedural standpoint were made to address this situation adequately.
It is confirmed that the elderly individual who disappeared from São Francisco Xavier’s emergency department was found dead, less than a kilometer from the location, near a PSP station, in an area not accessible to the public.
The circumstances of the death are now being investigated by the Polícia Judiciária (PJ), who were present at the scene and took over the investigation of the case.
Not the First Time
It is noted that this is not the first time such an incident has occurred. In February 2024, a body in an advanced state of decomposition was found in a wooded area behind the Colégio de São José in Restelo.
It was later revealed to be that of an elderly patient with Alzheimer’s, who had disappeared after being admitted to the emergency department of São Francisco Xavier Hospital two months earlier, in December 2023.
The agency Lusa reported at the time of the disappearance that the woman, Avelina Ferreira, aged 73, disappeared after being admitted alone to the hospital’s emergency department, as her husband was not allowed to accompany her. Her husband reportedly waited outside the emergency department for seven hours, only to learn that Avelina had disappeared without anyone’s notice.
