The Šiauliai Hospital broke the silence after the suicide of the doctor: it admitted having received 5 official reports on the prevailing tension

Received 5 service messages

The director of RŠL, Remigijus Mažeika, did not hide the fact that 5 official reports of stress had been received at the Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Center, where a retired doctor worked.

“Today, we would like to express our deepest condolences to the doctor’s family and colleagues. The hospital administration provided detailed information to the Health Department upon request. We can confirm that 5 service reports and stress requests were received at the Center for Anesthesiology and Intensive Care.

In all cases, as a manager, I tried to find out the problems objectively, so working groups and commissions were formed, all interested parties were listened to, ”said R. Mažeika.

According to him, all similar cases are treated equally. The hospital has received requests for information from the police and the State Labor Inspectorate. According to the director, the information is being prepared.

He will not give up

According to R. Mažeika, the hospital will participate by providing all the information to “reveal the objective truth” as soon as possible.

“Unfortunately, in addition to this painful disaster and sincere sadness, you can see the desire to take advantage of the current situation and vent their pain. The changes that have occurred in the hospital since 2019 have affected many departments and staff. All changes bring a lot of stress, especially when they haven’t taken long. But the hospital could not stay the same: it was in a difficult financial situation, without technological improvements, with one of the lowest salaries in Lithuania, ”exclaimed R. Mažeika.

During the changes, he said, more than 20 heads of medical departments changed.

The hospital manager said he did not intend to leave due to the incident, although it was requested. He also said there was no reason to remove the leaders accused of the incident.

“We have no reason to remove the leaders today. Let’s wait for the investigation and find out where the truth is,” said R. Mažeika.

“Let’s await the conclusions of the investigation,” invited R. Mažeika.

He said why he did not allow the duel

Reporters asked why hospital staff were prohibited from crying to the outgoing doctor on Tuesday. R. Mažeika replied: “We had representatives of the mobile crisis management team delegated from the Ministry of Health. Following the recommendations of the World Health Organization, the recommendations of suicidal psychologists are advised to avoid phenomena such as the romanticization of suicide. Taking into account that there is a hospital here and there are many people involved in working together, the work is very complicated and we avoid further escalation of this situation.

The director was asked what he thought of the candles still lit at the hospital door. This was negatively evaluated by the manager.

“I don’t think that’s the best way to light candles in a hospital. The candles usually burn in the cemetery and must disappear after that because there is a hospital here. I imagine how the employees who come, as well as the patients, feel. I think this is no longer acceptable, “said R. Mažeika.

Asked why the suicidal doctor was fired, hospital officials said that he had done so under article 58 of the Labor Code, as his actions had been found to violate a number of laws and therefore constitute a serious breach of duty.

Experienced mobbing

Delfi recalls that on May 9, the news of a doctor who had voluntarily left his life was spread on social networks. A little later, this was confirmed by the Republican Šiauliai Hospital, where the doctor worked.

After this event, the public began to speak out loud about harassment in medical institutions. The suicidal doctor is also said to have suffered psychological harassment. As the Republican Šiauliai Hospital wrote in a report distributed last week, the retired doctor “was fired from the Republican Šiauliai Hospital due to a serious violation of his job duties.”