The two female doctors from the Intensive Care Unit of the Sfântu Pantelimon hospital in Bucharest accused of first-degree murder were arrested for 30 days.
Doctors Mirela Păiuș and Maria Miron from the “Sfântul Pantelimon” hospital accused by prosecutors of qualified murder in the case of a 54-year-old patient from ICU.
Prosecutors announced on Wednesday the 24-hour detention of the two doctors on charges of attempted murder and aggravated murder, and of a nurse for perjury. The investigators claim that the two female doctors caused the death of a 54-year-old patient, hospitalized in serious condition at the ICU Department, by decreasing the dose of nonadrenaline, which led to cardio-respiratory arrest, followed by the patient’s death.
“With the aim of provoking 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,” claim the prosecutors.
The investigation started in April, after the care director notified the hospital management that there was information from a medical assistant that 20 patients died in the Anesthesia-Intensive Therapy Department between April 4-7 due to incorrect administration of a medicine.
The hospital then announced that 17 patients died in the period indicated in the complaint at the ICU Department. The accusations made by the prosecutors refer to a single patient.
Case prosecutor Alexandru Anghel explained that the investigation is a very difficult one because the injection machines through which patients are administered Noradrenaline “are used in such a way that a clear traceability of their use cannot be achieved”.