[ad_1]
In the exhausting atmosphere of hospitals, horrible accidents also happen. Such a case occurred at the “Victor Babeș” hospital in the capital, where a COVID patient died after an orderly man accidentally removed her breathing tube.
TO UPDATE: The Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Bucharest Court announced on Friday evening that the orderly at the “Victor Babeş” Hospital in Bucharest has been arrested.
“On 12.11.2020, the prosecutors of the Public Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Bucharest Court ordered the initiation of criminal action against a defendant, an orderly at the” Dr. Victor Babeş “Bucharest Clinical Hospital for Infectious and Tropical Diseases, for committing the crime of homicide guilty “, transmitted the Deputy Prosecutor’s Office to the Bucharest Court.
The employee, suspected of involuntary manslaughter, had been called to transfer another woman from the ward, who had recently died, to the same place. According to the protocol, the orderly cannot intervene in patients, regardless of their condition.
The victim was 65 years old and had been hospitalized for 3 weeks, had coronavirus and was in serious condition, intubated and mechanically ventilated. She was being treated in the same intensive care unit as another overweight patient who had been pronounced dead. The head of the department had asked for 4 stretchers to lift the latter’s body and take it to the hospital morgue.
The 58-year-old orderly was the first to be resurrected. There were some nurses there, but they were busy in another patient’s bed. Sources within the investigation claim that the man began to remove tubes and cables from the living patient. Apparently without receiving any indication from anyone.
In fact, the job description strictly prohibits orderlies from engaging in any medical or care maneuvering. Its function is strictly one of handling and transport. Only the nurse, possibly assisted by a physician, removes the life-sustaining sensors, probes, and catheters. Be careful, devices must be turned off first, otherwise alarms will sound. What has happened.
Thus the nurses were alerted, who called the doctor on duty and began resuscitating the woman. Efforts failed and the patient passed away. In front of his colleagues, the man said that he did not understand what had happened and that he could not really explain what he had done.
The hospital representatives acknowledge that from the beginning there were strong indications that the death was not due to natural or medical causes. Therefore, the coordinator of the duty shift notified the Prosecutor’s Office and the Police during the night.
Shortly after the unofficial information emerged, the Police confirmed that the Homicide Service is investigating the death of the hospitalized patient at Victor Babeş Hospital. It is a suspicious death, so investigations are underway under the supervision of a prosecutor and an autopsy has been ordered.
The strange thing is that, in the morning, the woman’s son was informed by phone that his mother had died of COVID and that the body was expected to be removed from the hospital morgue. The man says a second call, received shortly thereafter, directed him to the Institute of Forensic Medicine, where the police were already located.
In parallel, there was a first hearing of the orderly. Blood tests confirmed that the man had not drunk alcohol while on the job. But he could not tell investigators why he did it with devastating consequences. The man gave statements and was fired.
The Bucharest Hospital Administration, which belongs to the City Council of the capital, is administratively investigating this incident, which resulted in the death of a patient, whom it calls unfortunate.
Management and all staff forward “sincere condolences” family and are made available to the competent bodies.
In fact, the most sensitive aspect of the investigation is whether the other employees followed the resuscitation protocol and whether the orderly was ever allowed to perform prohibited maneuvers, such as placing tubes, and whether the patient’s identification card was visible. Theoretically, it would make it impossible to mistake a living patient for a dead one.
The Capital Police announce that the case, initially opened for manslaughter, at the District Court 3 Prosecutor’s Office, was assumed by the Bucharest Court Prosecutor’s Office.
