Two doctors from the "Sf. Pantelimon" Emergency Clinical Hospital in Bucharest found themselves under arrest for first-degree murder and attempted murder. The charges came after the alleged intentional failure to maintain necessary levels of noradrenaline, an incredibly crucial medication for maintaining blood pressure for gravely ill patients.
The Bucharest Tribunal, in collaboration with the Homicide Service of the Bucharest Police, launched an investigation on April 11, following a complaint by the care manager of the respective hospital. In that period, the report explained, between April 4 and 7, 2024, 17 deaths were incurred by the ICU patients in a manner that, in a turn of event, suggested foul play, an eventuality that therefore opened a criminal inquiry.
The prosecutors described the two doctors, whose full names were not made public, as specialists in Anesthesia and Intensive Care. They stand accused of intentionally reducing the doses of noradrenaline they were injecting into a patient, who has since died. In one of the incidents, it was claimed that on March 26, 2024, M.M.A. almost killed a 54-year-old patient after lowering drug infusion from 15ml/h to 1ml/h. The intervention by a nurse who brought the dose back to what it had been earlier saved the patient from possible death.
April 4, 2024:The allegations are that the same two doctors turned their forces on the same patient they had attacked on March 31, 2024. The noradrenaline therapy that had been sustaining at 20ml/h was pulled down to 1ml/h, and the patient was thrown into a cardiac arrest from which he died an hour later.
Apart from the doctors, one nurse, who goes by the initials C.M., has further been detained on allegations of continuously making false testimonies. She has been filed with charges of making witness statements that were full of falsehoods, and it interfered with the process of inquiry by misleading the relevant authorities in many instances.
The arrests in this case have shaken the medical community, and even the Health Minister of Romania has demanded the resignation of the management of the hospital. The Minister said that these accusations are very serious and such acts shall not go undone within the healthcare system.
As investigations are still underway, the concerned investigators hope to unravel all the alleged crimes to ensure justice is served for these victims of incessant brutality. The case has intensified several questions about the safety of patients vs. medical professionals in Romania.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Dr. Prerna Lal/MSM)
