A doctor from the Polizu Maternity Hospital was indicted for attempted murder after allegedly declaring dead a prematurely born baby who was alive. The child’s parents filed a complaint, and today the doctor was questioned and charged with attempted murder.
The incident took place in 2019, after a family came to the Polizu Maternity Hospital because the mother had a problem pregnancy. She gave birth prematurely, at 6 months of pregnancy. After the birth, the doctor declared the baby dead. After several hours, a nurse discovered that the little one was alive.
Currently, the child is 3 years old.
The College of Physicians of the Municipality of Bucharest (CMMB) self-reported and launched a disciplinary investigation in the case of the doctor from the Polizu Maternity who is accused of malpractice regarding the behavior towards children born prematurely.
“The College of Doctors from the City of Bucharest categorically states that such a situation, assuming that it is confirmed as a result of the investigation, is inadmissible. However, before any statement, the official result of the investigation by the competent authorities must be awaited,” CMMB states in a statement sent to the media.
ProTV News and Euronews.ro report on the case of the child declared dead at birth and who was allegedly “thrown into a tray” by the doctor Florian Robe, the baby surviving although he was not given any kind of medical assistance.
After the father of the premature baby girl recounted the trauma his family went through, the child’s mother also said how Dr. Robe declared the birth a miscarriage and allegedly informed the parents that the baby girl did not survive.
Marina Pletoiu, the mother of the girl born prematurely in April 2019, said that after she gave birth, doctor Florian Robe told the parents that the girl did not survive and encouraged them “that they are young and will be able to have more children”. Moreover, he had the woman sign a death certificate of the child. The next day, the doctor told them that the girl showed signs that she wanted to live, and all the medical staff tried, at that time, to convey to the parents that the girl had resurrected overnight, during Easter week, reports Euronews.ro.
The woman went home with the child, and after a few months, in September 2019, at her baptism, the mother learned more details from the child’s godmother, none other than the nurse from Polizu who found the child on a tray. That night, after declaring the child dead, the doctor would have sent the child for cremation three times, but those there refused, on the grounds that the girl had vital signs. The mother said that she accepted the situation as it was and was no longer interested in her except that she was with the child, that she could focus on her upbringing.
The parents plucked up the courage to file a complaint in January 2022 after hearing of similar situations and deciding they could set an example.
Put in a box, thrown into a bag
After the birth, the baby girl was placed in a box with a lid and thrown into a bag. 12 hours later, she was found still alive by a nurse who alerted a doctor. He also filmed the child in the box, so prosecutors have video evidence on file. The doctor claims that he thought the girl was dead, although the testimonies gathered by the investigators contradict him, ProTV News reports. The images were filmed in 2019 by a Polizu Maternity nurse.
The woman was told to hand over the body of a fetus to the coroners. Shocked, she saw that the little girl had been crammed into a box and put in a sack. Her death certificate had already been signed by her mother as well. It all happened during Easter week. The mother was sent from Pitesti to the Polizu Maternity Hospital, with a risk of abortion. On call was gynecologist Florian Robe, who took her to a treatment room, not a delivery room. According to the protocols, that would be the procedure in case of an abortion.
After five months since birth, he mother learned the truth from the nurse who had found the child in the box. “She didn’t want to tell me, but she couldn’t live with this lie, so to speak. Shee told me that on the morning of April 25, when she went to work, she went to the room where they collect garbage, to go get garbage to throw away. In a saucepan she said she heard a rustle. She took the lid off that saucepan, the bag was already moving, she opened the bag, and the baby girl started crying when she opened the bag and, you realized that she was stunned. She called Dr. Robe, told him that it was a baby crying in a sack. He, without scruples, said to her: “Bring him to me so I can cut his belly button so that she will die“, reported Marina Pletoiu.