In April, patients with
\nthe mobile ICU placed in the courtyard of the Victor Babe\u0219 Infectious
\nDisease hospital in Bucharest died due to a technical malfunction. According to
\npreliminary reports, the tragedy occurred after a sudden increase in pressure was
\nreported in the oxygen delivery tanks of the mobile unit, which severed the oxygen
\nsupply to eight people inside the unit. Three of them died. According to investigators,
\nhuman error caused the tragedy. Judges have rejected the prosecutors’ proposal
\nto place the head of the Technical Service and a hospital employee under pre-trial
\narrest, but did decide however to place them under house arrest for a period of
\n30 days. The two are facing manslaughter charges. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Apart from the interdiction
\nto leave home without the approval of investigators, the two suspects are
\nbanned from contacting the victims, other suspects in the case, witnesses or
\nexperts involved in the investigation. The decision is not final and can be appealed
\nby prosecutors and defendants. Prosecutors say that due to the failure to ensure
\nthe optimal functioning of the oxygen installation and to the hospital
\nemployees’ undertraining, the installation required an intervention which, prosecutors
\nadd, was poorly carried out by one of the two defendants, which caused the
\nimmediate malfunction of oxygen ventilators in the ICU and the death of the three
\npatients. On the other hand, the medical unit also said the technical service
\nemployees who were arrested on Wednesday comply with all the legal provisions
\nin terms of professional training required by their job description. According
\nto a press release, the hospital management and the entire medical and
\nauxiliary staff will continue to support the relevant authorities in their
\nefforts to ascertain the truth. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The incident at Victor Babe\u0219 occurred
\njust months after another two tragedies in medical units across Romania. In
\nNovember, last year, a fire broke out at the Piatra Neam\u021b Emergency County Hospital,
\naffecting another ICU treating COVID patients. Ten people died in the fire at
\nthe time. Medical doctor C\u0103t\u0103lin Denciu risked his life to save some of the
\npatients and suffered serious burns, being hospitalized in Belgium. He was awarded
\nby the World Health Organization and declared Hero of 2020 by Belgian authorities.
\nAnother fire occurred in January this year at the COVID ward of an elite
\nmedical unit in Bucharest, Matei Bal\u0219, also killing several patients.
\n(VP)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romanian magistrates have decided to place under house arrest two employees of the Victor Babe\u0219 Institute, charged with manslaughter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":89309,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[40292,40290,40291,40289],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-89308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-fires-in-romanian-hospitals","tag-manslaughter-charges","tag-technical-malfunction","tag-victor-babes-inquiry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n