Scandal over deaths in intensive care unit in Bucharest
A court case against two female doctors has sparked a debate about the healthcare system in Romania. According to the indictment, a seriously ill 54-year-old man was deliberately killed in a Bucharest intensive care unit by underdosing a drug in order to free up beds for patients with better chances of survival. Twenty patients in the intensive-care unit died within a three-day period. Excerpts from quotes in the national press.
Doctors can also be black sheep
Libertatea comments that it is not as unusual as one might think that those whose vocation it is to save lives commit murder:
“In Romania, we have had cases of doctors who made their treatment decisions contingent on receiving material benefits and have been convicted and sentenced for this. They too had once sworn to save lives. The profession is no guarantee of innocence - for anyone. There are cases of police officers who committed crimes; priests who raped; judges who took bribes for favourable judgements. And all over the world there have been cases of medical staff killing patients. They are among the most prolific serial killers. In the specialised literature they are referred to as 'angels of death'.”
Guidelines for euthanasia lacking
Romania must confront a crucial social issue, French-based anaesthetist Radu Lupescu demands on G4Media.ro:
“There is a heated but necessary debate in France about the right to 'die with dignity' - a discussion that Romanian society should also have in order to provide patients with real palliative care when nothing more can be done for them from a purely medical perspective. But how can a doctor make appropriate decisions about anaesthesia, ending treatment and palliative care in the last moments of a person's life if he has no regulations to go by, if there are no corresponding laws? The hands of medical staff are tied due to the lack of clear guidelines.”