The Dolje policemen announced that the investigations for manslaughter are continuing, after the death of a 52-year-old woman, who went into cardio-respiratory arrest following an endoscopic exploration intervention, performed by a doctor from Craiova. The incident took place on April 4, and the woman died on May 3. The same doctor was referred to justice in another manslaughter case as a result of medical malpractice. According to the investigators, during a surgical intervention, the doctor would have caused the death of a patient.
IPJ Dolj representatives announced, in April 2023, the detention of a doctor from the Craiova Emergency Hospital. He was suspected of committing four crimes of manslaughter as a result of medical malpractice. At that time, the law enforcement officers explained that four patients would have died as a result of surgical interventions performed by the doctor.
“In fact, the man, in his capacity as a doctor, in a medical unit in the municipality of Craiova, is suspected of having performed four surgical interventions, namely the taking of biopsy samples, subsequently resulting in the death of two men aged 76 and 77, from Craiova and Plenița, respectively two women, 64 and 66 years old, both from Târgu Jiu”, explained the Dolje policemen. On April 11, the prosecutors ordered the placement of the doctor Demetrian Alin Dragoş under judicial control.
Doctor from Craiova, tried for manslaughter
On January 23, the prosecutors ordered the Craiova doctor to be sent to court. The man was referred to the court under judicial control.
“On 23.01.2024, the prosecutor from the Public Prosecutor’s Office attached to the Craiova District Court ordered the issuance of the indictment and the sending to court, under the preventive measure of judicial control, of the defendant Demetrian Alin Dragoș, a surgeon employed by the Craiova County Emergency Clinical Hospital, regarding the commission of the crime of manslaughter as a result of medical malpractice(…).
On 13.09.2019, as the main operating physician, performing his duties at the Craiova County Emergency Clinical Hospital, as a result of non-compliance with the measures prescribed for the exercise of the medical profession, thoracic surgery specialty, Demetrian Alin Dragoș improperly performed a Carlens anterior cervical mediastinoscopy on patient BD during which he accidentally severed the patient’s right brachiocephalic trunk, causing a massive external hemorrhage that led, on the morning of 09/14/2019, to the patient’s violent death “, the prosecutors explained.
The latter also claimed that there was a direct causal link between the medical act and the patient’s death.
Similar crimes in another file
This file was registered in the Craiova Court and is in the preliminary chamber procedure. The relatives of the deceased patient were civil parties in the criminal case. The civilly responsible parties are the insurance company City Insurance (through the liquidator) and the Craiova Emergency Hospital.
The Craiova prosecutors also specified that the case was ordered to be dismissed for three other crimes of manslaughter.
“Through the same indictment, it was ordered to dismiss the case and carry out investigations against Demetrian Alin Dragoș, as a suspect, for the commission, in similar circumstances, of three other crimes of manslaughter as a result of medical malpractice”, the prosecutors also specified.
He died after an exploratory endoscopic procedure
At the beginning of April, the doctor would have performed an endoscopic exploration intervention at a private clinic. Following the intervention, the patient would have entered cardio-respiratory arrest. She was transported to the Craiova Emergency Hospital, where she remained hospitalized. According to law enforcement officers, the woman died on May 3.
“In the continuation of the investigations regarding the event that occurred in the evening of April 4, as a result of which a 52-year-old woman, from the municipality of Caracal, Olt county, allegedly went into cardio-respiratory arrest following an endoscopic exploration intervention, on 03.05. Her death occurred in 2024.
Considering the evidence administered so far, in conjunction with the preliminary medico-legal conclusions, as well as the suspicion of a case of medical malpractice, the investigations will be continued under the aspect of committing the crime of manslaughter, and upon their completion, a thorough solution will be proposed and legal, through the competent prosecutor’s office”, the Dolje policemen sent.
