Romanian magistrates have decided to place under house arrest two employees of the "Victor Babeș" Institute, charged with manslaughter.
In April, patients with the mobile ICU placed in the courtyard of the "Victor Babeș" Infectious Disease hospital in Bucharest died due to a technical malfunction. According to preliminary reports, the tragedy occurred after a sudden increase in pressure was reported in the oxygen delivery tanks of the mobile unit, which severed the oxygen supply to eight people inside the unit. Three of them died. According to investigators, human error caused the tragedy. Judges have rejected the prosecutors' proposal to place the head of the Technical Service and a hospital employee under pre-trial arrest, but did decide however to place them under house arrest for a period of 30 days. The two are facing manslaughter charges.
Apart from the interdiction to leave home without the approval of investigators, the two suspects are banned from contacting the victims, other suspects in the case, witnesses or experts involved in the investigation. The decision is not final and can be appealed by prosecutors and defendants. Prosecutors say that due to the failure to ensure the optimal functioning of the oxygen installation and to the hospital employees' undertraining, the installation required an intervention which, prosecutors add, was poorly carried out by one of the two defendants, which caused the immediate malfunction of oxygen ventilators in the ICU and the death of the three patients. On the other hand, the medical unit also said the technical service employees who were arrested on Wednesday comply with all the legal provisions in terms of professional training required by their job description. According to a press release, the hospital management and the entire medical and auxiliary staff will continue to support the relevant authorities in their efforts to ascertain the truth.
The incident at "Victor Babeș" occurred just months after another two tragedies in medical units across Romania. In November, last year, a fire broke out at the Piatra Neamț Emergency County Hospital, affecting another ICU treating COVID patients. Ten people died in the fire at the time. Medical doctor Cătălin Denciu risked his life to save some of the patients and suffered serious burns, being hospitalized in Belgium. He was awarded by the World Health Organization and declared "Hero of 2020" by Belgian authorities. Another fire occurred in January this year at the COVID ward of an elite medical unit in Bucharest, "Matei Balș", also killing several patients. (VP)
Useful Links
Copyright © . All rights reserved