Andrej has been confined to his bed for four months. At the age of 59, he suffers severe pain. He cannot stand up from the bed to use the toilet. Consequently, Andrej is forced to urinate in emptied detergent bottles placed next to his bed and to defect in a kitchen pot. He resourcefully uses a bag for solid waste and a pot as a makeshift toilet.

Andrej keeps the bags in a plastic container right next to his pillow. His world consists only of things that are within a hand’s reach. Waste accumulates until one of the rare visitors empties the containers. Andrej depends solely on the kindness of a handful of individuals. In 2024, while Slovenia focuses on solarisation and digitalization, in Kočevje, in a deteriorating house, an isolated, sick, and abandoned man lives. Neglected by everyone – despite Slovenia's status as a welfare state – Andrej, whose plight is well known to both the Social Work Center and the Kočevje Health Center, remains unattended. Has anything changed over time? Andrej – seemingly resigned to his fate – shrugs, showing no signs of hope.

The public institution for home care just collects money

Andrej’s agony has now been going on for the fourth month. He is confined to his bed. He spends day and night lying down, suffering severe pain. His legs burn, and despite numerous attempts to stand up, he always collapses back onto the mattress. This mattress is his only refuge in a modest and cold room, where plaster falls on his head, and cold seeps through windows taped with adhesive. The wind blows through the gaps, and even the sunlight cannot the room. Andrej is alone. Twenty-four hours a day, he stares at the television, which represents the only window to the world.

Because Andrej’s bed is low, it prevents him from seeing nature, the primeval forest of Kočevje. Andrej does not have his own family. The only neighbour, called Slavi, is his guardian angel. Slavi moved from Bosnia to Slovenia years ago, finding her paradise on earth in Kočevje as a retiree. She cannot ignore the calls for help from the neighbour who is living on the third floor. Even after a difficult surgery and overcoming a pulmonary embolism, Slavi every day climbs the steep stairs to help Andrej. Slavi brings him food, and comforts and encourages him. Slavi’s eyes are red – tears are streaming down her face even during our visit. Her efforts to find assistance were in vain. A month ago, she arranged regular meals for Andrej, delivered by the local home care and assistance institution. During her recovery, when Slavi found herself on the brink of death, Andrej went without food for five or more days. Now he always keeps a loaf of bread on his bed in case he is hungry.

Slavi explains that the employees of the Jutro Institute (the public institution for home care), entered the decaying house for the first time a month ago, after Andrej had been already immobile for three months. Despite the conditions that do not befit human dignity, they just left the food a metre away from Andrej's bed and left. The image of human misery did not evoke compassion in them. Andrej, a man who can barely lift himself to a semi-seated position and cannot stand up to reach the dish and hold it for normal eating, was left with a metal tray of food, but without a spoon, fork, and plate. The representative of the Jutro Institute did not ask him if he needed help with feeding or cleaning. Andrej has not washed himself for four months. For months, he has been stuck in bed, where he eats and relieves himself. The Jutro Institute, which has a concession for home care and assistance, receives money from the state. Only from the Kočevje Municipality alone, the institute receives around 260 thousand euros annually. The Jutro Institute also provides assistance in the neighbouring Žužemberk Municipality. At least in Andrej's case, the failed to do their job. It is shocking that no one oversees the institution and the fulfillment of its employees' tasks.

In the constitutionally declared social state, health care and social services have failed

"I want to die," Andrej complained many times to his neighbour Slavi. She can hear Andrej’s woes through the broken window gaps. If he could, Andrej told us, he would jump out of the window. But he can't even stand on his feet. One time, Slavi called an ambulance, which took Andrej to Ljubljana. Emergency room doctors examined him, prescribed him new pills, and sent him back home. Paramedics then drove Andrej home and laid him in bed. A doctor from the local health centre also visited Andrej. He had to navigate through a pile of clothes falling out of the closet and step over piles of empty water bottles. The air, unhealthy since a person sleeps, eats, and excretes in the same room, did not prompt the doctor to act, despite his conscience and profession. The director of the Kočevje Health Center is still performing his duties. Will anyone take action?

For a person who still has the will and potential for recovery, no one has offered rehabilitation. Those responsible have not suggested any care, home nursing, or anything else. Each time, someone closed the door and left Andrej alone.

Till this day, when camera came into this town.

We contacted the Social Work Center Kočevje, which Slavi had called multiple times. On Friday at three in the afternoon, the door of the centre, on which we knocked, was already locked. As if with the end of the week, the problems and needs of the residents disappear. The director of the Social Work Centre, Katarina Hiti, wrote to us that they learned about Andrej’s condition on November 13 and visited him on November 15, claiming they have been monitoring him since then. Today is January 27th. Do they really monitor a person who is unable to move? Do they really monitor a person whose feces are accumulating next to their head? Do they really monitor a person who has not been showered and cleaned for four months? What are they monitoring? Whom are they monitoring?

Pilate-like handwashing, or who is the one crazy here

Katarina Hiti, the director of the Kočevje Social Work Center, further stated that “they informed the emergency service of the health centre during their first visit,” but Andrej was not hospitalized after the examination. However, the Kočevje Social Work Center also stated that they "arranged home care services for him.”

So, neither the concessionaire, nor the doctor, nor the home care, nor the Social Work Center Kočevje – none of them found it at least unusual, if not inappropriate and inhumane, that an immobile person, forgotten by everyone, lies alone in a mouldy, damp, and crumbling house with broken windows, while next to him his own excrement is piling up. Calmly, everyone responsible, otherwise full of social empathy, had been leaving Andrej's room. At the Social Work Center (CSD), they washed their hands, saying that they arranged food with the Jutro Institute, although all of the credit should go to the compassionate neighbour Slavi, who tirelessly called and pleaded for help.

In their response to our questions, the CSD wrote: “We provided the gentleman with information about the services available for assistance, household chores, and hygiene, but he decided not to use those services.” The CSD further noted that they identified “difficult health and living conditions.” So, the CSD wants to shift the blame onto Andrej with the following sentence: “He rejected help!”

When we confronted Andrej with the response of the CSD and asked him if it was true, that he had been rejecting help, he astonishingly responded, “That's not true!” To top it all off, they wrote: “The CSD investigated possible forms of assistance within the gentleman's social network and found that neighbours and friends provide him with certain forms of assistance.” Which social network? Andrej has no one. Friends had left him when he got ill. Andrej only has Slavi, and occasionally, in response to his numerous calls for help, one of his acquaintances comes to empty the containers with excrement. This is Andrej's social network, which the CSD deems appropriate to provide him with assistance. Slavi had also requested financial assistance for Andrej – the request was approved, but only for the span of two months. “'What good is money to him if there's no one to help,” said Slavi. Andrej needs appropriate healthcare, proper hygiene, and regular rehabilitation. He needs a new environment and a new opportunity.

Deputy Mayor: Unheard-of, catastrophic conditions; we will hold those responsible accountable

During our visit to Kočevje, we called Mayor Vladimir Prebilič, who was absent that day but immediately took action. In less than two minutes, Deputy Mayor Andrej Mladenovič arrived at the location. He did not hesitate and immediately approached his tragic namesake. 'I am shocked that something like this can happen in today's times. The institutions have failed. We cannot leave this gentleman in such conditions,' said Mr. Mladenovič.

He was visibly affected by the encounter with a fellow citizen, embracing the dismal state of the room in which Andrej is staying. 'No one deserves to live in such conditions. These are unheard-of, catastrophic conditions! I am surprised and saddened that something like this is happening in our municipality. We will find out who failed him,” Mr. Mladenovič said, looking at the helpless Andrej, confined to his bed. “We allocate a considerable amount of money to institutions for the care and assistance of fellow residents. We will make sure to review the situation in this area,” advocated the deputy mayor, who was also in contact with the mayor. However, because this happened yesterday afternoon when all institutions had already ceased operations, the municipal leadership could not do much. Nevertheless, an undeniable decision was made based on what was observed: we start with the necessary activities on Monday. The mayor and deputy mayor pledged that they would find a suitable solution for Andrej. For Andrej, life will start again on Monday...