A hospital manager in Romania has been fired following the death of a pregnant woman at the hospital whose cries for help were ignored for seven hours.
Botosani County Council, which is responsible for the management of the County Emergency Hospital said Wednesday it had dismissed Iulian Angel Calin who was in charge of the hospital when the woman died last week.
Alexandra Ivanov, 26, was 13 weeks pregnant when she was admitted to hospital with bleeding and nausea on Aug. 17. Her condition deteriorated during the night, and she sent distressed messages to doctors, begging them to intervene.
“”Do you think you could perform a curettage tonight as I can’t take the pain anymore! I beg you as I’m going mad,” she wrote at 4.18 to a doctor who was working on the night shift. There was no response.
At around 7am, she sent her final message to her husband: “I can’t take it any more.” Just over an hour later, the mother of three was dead.
Medical staff who did not intervene when she cried out for help on the maternity ward were criticized by local authorities and the health minister accused them of “lacking empathy.” They have been suspended from duty.
Hundreds of people protested outside the hospital the day she died.
„I am calling again for the resignation of the attending physician and (the medic) who was on duty who showed a total lack of empathy towards a woman in distress, as well as huge deficiencies of professionalism,” said the head of Botoşani County Council, Doina Federovici on Wednesday.
“It is a basic responsibility in the face of such a tragedy. These resignations must come quickly…. so something like this does not happen again” she added.
The Botosani Public Health Directorate announced that an inquiry made following the death of the woman revealed that”: ”between 00.45 and 07.35, there were no investigations, therapeutic interventions or maneuvers were recorded in the sheet.”
At about 7am, Ivanov’s condition suddenly deteriorated and she was transferred to intensive care where doctors were unable to resuscitate her.
She died from a pulmonary edema and had cardio-respiratory failure. The pregnancy which had failed was “infected.”
Health Minister Alexandru Rafila said he was „very seriously affected” by the case and said the “the main irregularity was that medical staff “didn’t act.”
He said her death was not linked to a medical error „but to a lack of interest and empathy.”
