PTB: Two doctors premeditatedly killed a patient from the ATI ward of Saint Pantelimon Hospital

Two ATI doctors, employed at the Pantelimon Hospital in the capital, are accused by the prosecutors of the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Bucharest Court (PTB) of the premeditated murder of a patient by drastically reducing the dose of noradrenaline that he was receiving through an injection machine. In this case, it is about two female doctors, about whom, based on the evidence provided, the prosecutors considered that "with the aim of causing the death of some patients who required intensive therapy, but regarding whom the defendants considered that it was no longer appropriate to keep them alive, they devised and implemented a plan consisting in the sudden reduction of the dose of noradrenaline (an essential substance in intensive therapy, with a role in maintaining blood pressure), with the consequence of a drop in blood pressure, followed by cardio-respiratory arrest".

In the criminal investigation document submitted to the court, the prosecutors claim that on March 26, 2024, at 4:45 p.m., "with premeditation and taking advantage of the victim's obvious vulnerability (54-year-old patient, in a very serious condition, hemodynamically unstable, having blood pressure of 49/29 mm/Hg), the accused M.M.A. tried to suppress the patient's life by suddenly reducing the dose of noradrenaline administered through the injectomat, from the value of 15ml/h, to the value of 1ml/h (minimum value that was maintained for a considerable period of time), but the victim's death did not produced as a result of the intervention of a nurse who replaced the noradrenaline deficiency by infusion".

The magistrates also note that on April 4, 2024, at 1:17 p.m., the two female doctors, "taking advantage of the obvious vulnerability of the victim (the same 54-year-old patient, in a very serious condition, hemodynamically unstable, with a blood pressure of 60/ 36 mm/Hg), acting with the intention of suppressing the patient's life, they reduced the dose of noradrenaline administered through the injectomat, from the value of 20 ml/h, to the value of 1 ml/h, a fact that led, 58 minutes later, when the cardio-respiratory arrest was established, followed by the patient's death declared at 15:00".

Regarding this patient, the prosecutors state that, before the doctors reduced his dose of noradrenaline for the second time, the patient's condition had improved.

"The 54-year-old patient was admitted to the hospital on March 17, and due to the deterioration of his health, he was transferred to ATI on March 25. On March 26, the first sudden reduction in the dose of noradrenaline takes place. In the following days, the patient's condition improved, he was even visited by his family. On April 4, the second reduction in the dose of noradrenaline takes place and the death occurs", according to the press release of the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Bucharest Court.

In the same file, a nurse from the Anesthesia and Intensive Care Department of the "St. Pantelimon" Bucharest, for committing the crime of perjury in continuous form. According to the prosecutors, the nurse, at the hearing as a witness on April 26, June 6 and June 19, regarding the crime of murder with which the two doctors from ATI are accused, gave false statements and did not say everything she knew on essential aspects of the case.

• The prosecutors recreated the route of the injection machine used in the murder in the hospital

As a result of this criminal case, Alexandru Rafila, the Minister of Health requested the resignation of the general manager of the Saint Pantelimon Hospital and presented how in April the officials of the Ministry carried out a control at the respective medical unit after information had appeared that in only three or four days they died at ATI 17 patients. The control team sent by the Minister of Health did not notice anything incorrect in the documents, but suggested the hospital management to notify the Public Prosecutor's Office, which happened, which led to the criminal case from this moment.

Prosecutor Alexndru Anghel, the spokesperson of the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Bucharest Court, stated that discovering the facts was difficult for the officials of the Ministry of Health, because the injectors that administered noradrenaline were not assigned to a specific patient, but there were undocumented movements of these devices, being taken from -one salon to another, from one patient to another, depending on needs. However, the case prosecutors had access to the recordings saved by these devices and were able, based on a photo that also circulated in the press, to identify a certain device and a certain patient, thus proving the involvement of the two female doctors in his murder.

Although initially, according to official data, 17 patients died at ATI in the Saint Pantelimon Hospital in three days from April 2024, the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Bucharest Court filed the charge of premeditated murder only one patient died, the other cases are still under investigation, prosecutor Alexandru Anghel also pointed out.

For patients who arrive in Intensive Care, one of the first faces they see when they recover or when they have moments when they open their eyes is that of the doctor or nurse in that department. Perhaps many of the patients in the ATI wards, especially those who are senescent, are on the border between life and death, but sometimes the simple involvement of the medical staff and relatives can work miracles and the sick can recover. For them, the medical staff at ATI and the family are their savior angels at that moment.

What happened at the Saint Pantelimon Hospital shows that cold-blooded criminals can hide under the guise of angels. Because only such a person can make the decision in an instant about who should die and who should live, without showing any weakness, any empathy with the one in front of him in the hospital bed. The dehumanization of the three medical personnel pre-arrested in the criminal case regarding the crimes in the ATI section of the Saint Pantelimon Hospital in the Capital is impossible to understand in a state of law, where the human right to life and the patient's right to fair treatment are essential.

The events that happened in April at the ATI ward of Pantelimon Hospital, when 17 patients died - so far only for one of them the prosecutors have evidence that proves the serious guilt of two doctors - should be an alarm signal, but also a reminder of events during the Covid 19 pandemic. In light of the prosecutors' explanation that the patient was killed by the medical staff to make room in the ICU for another patient with a better chance of survival, we can ask what happened during the pandemic, within the same hospital or in other hospitals not only in the Capital, but also in the country?

The ATI colleagues of the two female doctors protested yesterday in front of the Saint Patelimon Hospital, resigned from the guards and threatened to resign after all the patients currently in the ATI ward will leave that facility, claiming they want to go work in a health care system where they are respected and not constantly hunted down.