Head of neo-natal department under investigation

A little bit of news on the Giulesti front this morning: the head of the neonatal department, Adrian Ioan Toma, is also now under penal investigation for professional negligence with dire consequences (see video HERE). Evidence gathered by the prosecution, says tvr.ro, indicates gross mismanagement on the part of HR : he did not take the appropriate measures to ensure staffing continuity on the babies ward of more than two nurses (as required by law) while the number of newborns constantly exceeded the maximum permitted. It appears that we haven't heard his name nor read it before becasue he has been on holiday. 'En revanche', still not a murmur about either Bogdan Marinescu or Mirela Ranga... The prosecution has also asked for the charge of manslaughter to be held against Giulesti Maternity Hospital.

(Photo: Adevarul) This brings the accused to three so far: Vasile Dima charged with negligence, the afore-mentioned also with negligence and Florentina Carstea (pictured left) on charges of manslaughter and grievous bodily harm... Florentina, as we have repeatedly insisted, is at the bottom of the pile. You cannot prosecute a nurse for 12 minutes (bathroom, talking to a friend, wherever she happened to be) absence from her post during a 720-minute shift and certainly not for manslaughter. She didn't have anyone to cover her post because, as we know, there weren't enough staff to go round. Adrian Toma managed the scheduling of the ward, allowing the number of nurses to be so thin on the ground whilst the number of babies exceeded legal limits.

I just had a written "chat" conversation on Facebook with a friend of mine in Bucharest who had another slant on the matter. She said that Toma is one of the best doctors in his field. Doctors in Roumania have to take care of contracts for medicine, the electricity, food, they operate, take care of babies, and do the scheduling as well as being responsible for such things as detergents. Neither, she says, was he Florentina's immediate boss. he was simply one of the directors. Florentina's boss was the head nurse. She added that doctors and nurses are separate. And she is absolutely right. She added, "being a good doctor doesn't make him a good administrator". I thought about this for a long while, agonised over it in fact. Of course being a doctor doesn't mean you have to be a good administrator and vice versa. What kind of a cock-eyed system means that he should be. But he was in a position of responsibility as head of the neo-natal department. He thus had a contract which he must have agreed to and signed and a job contract must be adhered to otherwise one is accused of professional negligence. Voilà, the case is this. Did he do his job? He may have done the doctor bit brilliantly, but the other bit which was safety and security he did not. It is a great sadness, for this man is an excellent doctor (comments on-line from patients will attest to this) and should never have been in a position to take care of detergents, electricity and staff planning. Another victim of this gangrenous system of ludicrous procedure (or lack thereof).

I am not saying that Florentina should go free (this was said pertaining to the preventive arrest that I found groundless, except if it really was for her own safety - in which case why accuse her of citing riots and mistrust in a health system that no-one trusted anyway before the tragedy happened) nor is guiltless and of course I empathise terribly with the parents. I have also cried for the lost babies and those fighting for their lives today. The images of what happened go through my mind many times a day and haunt my imagination. What I am saying and have done so since the day after Florentina was arrested is that she must NOT be the scapegoat and the ONLY one to carry the can. If she must pay then so must everyone in the management at Giulesti Maternity - and sadly, that includes good doctors like Adrian Toma who shouldn't have been in the position to act as an administrator if he wasn't good at it. The result of that is the cascade of errors that lead to this terrible, needless tragedy and untold human suffering on every level of the word. 

The unit remains closed until the end of the month. In the meantime, the investigation continues, the electrical network is seeing a complete overhaul and equipment amounting to over 500,000 euros worth will be bought with help from the US embassy who are willing to chip in. Until the unit reopens, all premature babies will be treated in other hospitals. Oh, and an important piece of news is that ALL 21 hospitals under city hall jurisdiction will be furnished with smoke detectors, Savu said. Hope he also remembers to equip them with water sprinklers and even more urgently required, fire extinguishers, a strict no-smoking rule and the removal of non-fireproof materials such as wooden cupboards... (Photo above: Ovidiu Micsik)

On another tack, the ex-minister of health (left), Ovidiu Branzan, declares that the Boc government is reponsible for the tragedy in its blocking of the hiring of new medical staff. This includes Dima, too, who was not permitted to retire because it wasn't possible to employ a replacement. He added that Florentina Carstea's arrest was "abusive" (quite right, too) because she is not a danger to the public and her guilt would be established by the court. Everyone blames her for having left the room but noone asks where the other two nurses were who should have been working alongside her - but that's coz there wasn't anyone else. That was down to Boc's freezing of positions. Bravo, Mr Branzan. Seitan, the minister of labour, has got the boot in the recent reshuffle but Cseke, the health minister, remains unscathed...what a massive error in Boc's decapitation of the incompetent (am shocked that Udrea is still there, too). He should have been the first to go. Chosen by the UDMR simply because they had no one better than a notary to do the job, he is wet behind the ears, has no experience in the medical field and is too arrogant to admit his blunders. The very fact that he hasn't resigned over this tragedy shows a deplorable lack of conscience, respect and remorse. In the opinion of the former health minister, Branzal, health positions should have been given priority status. PM Boc still doesn't seem to have got the point. As recently as Aug.27, Boc declared the government will discuss the deblocking of posiitons sometime in Sept... the tragedy of August 16th doesn't seem to have taught him anything at all.

My thanks as always to Florina for her research, translations and determination to publicise anything related to this tragedy that could help support Florentina Carstea's right to and obtention of a fair trial.

Comments

[anca]

Grav, dar mai ales inspaimintator ce se intimpla in justitie in tara asta. Ne-am obisnuit deja ca plata pentru orice s-o faca cel mai mic pe scara ierarhica. De fapt, Florentina cred ca nici nu face parte din "ierarhie". Ea era palmasul acolo, ceilalti dormind linistiti stiind ca era cineva care sa se imparta in n parti ca sa faca fata indatoririlor. Ma si mir ca au aparut nume noi pe lista, cum de s-a intimplat asta?
Ieri am vazut la stiri o judecatoare care a eliberat un criminal din lumea interlopa si care ii spunea unui politist "esti un bou".

[Dan]

There is so much responsibility that was not taken seriously, As I was reading earlier, nobody held a gun to Dr. Toma's head to become the head of the department. Nobody held a head to Dr. Marienscu to accept to continue to be the director of the hospital. These two have their very lucrative private clinics and did not have to bother with paperwork, administrative duties etc.. They liked the prestige of their positions and now.. sorry but they should be held responsible.
Same goes for Dima. If he was so sick why didn't he prevail? And if he was sick, he should not have been in such an important position - head of technical services.. Sorry the ball, again, falls in Marinescu's lap.

[Eva Pureza]

That depends on who the judges are and who is pulling the judges puppet strings... if you take a look at Kovesi's CV you can't beioeve anything onn it. pure fabrication...unless she is superwoman which I strongly doubt

[Papa]

Finally, there is some hope that the real culprits will be brought to justice!..