THE grief-stricken father of a14-year-old boy who died in the hands of state doctors yesterday recounted to reporters how his son was taken to the intensive care unit (ICU) when doctors knew he was already dead.
Two doctors were found guilty of medical negligence on Tuesday over the death in 2001 of Giorgos Hadjidemetris from Geri.
The boy died from complications after doctors failed to remove a piece of fabric lodged in a wound caused by a rusty piece of metal.
Giorgos had been injured and taken to hospital where his wound was cleaned and stitched up. Four days later the boy had to be taken back to hospital suffering from high fever and pain in the wound area. He underwent surgery on the same day and his wound was opened and cleaned.
Giorgos was kept in hospital and treated intravenously with antibiotics. Three days later, and with the infection getting worse, doctors deemed it necessary for the boy’s wound to be cleaned again, but he died on the operating table.
Yesterday, the boy’s father, Omiros, urged the medical association to take measures against the two doctors.
“My son was dumped in the ICU when he was already dead,” Hadjidemetris said.
“Is it not disrespect for the dead?” he added.
Hadjdemetris said his son had been wheeled to the ICU right before his eyes and doctors told him he was barely alive.
“They put him in the ICU and then told me he died in the ICU,” he said.
He added: “All this is recorded in the court minutes; I spent 11 months in court and I learned about everything they did to my son.”
“Mr Vassiliou,” he said referring to the Chairman of the Medical Association Antonis Vassiliou, “can find them in the court minutes whenever he wants. That my son was in fact dead in the surgery and then he was put on a stretcher, taken to the ICU and I was later told that he had died in the ICU,” the father said.
Hadjidemetris said he was certain that the circumstances of his son’s death would have been covered up if he had not pursued the case personally.
“Surely it would have been covered up,” he said.
Vassiliou said the Association would look into the case and if, through evidence found, there had been unethical conduct or if a disciplinary offence had been committed then they would proceed in accordance with the medical association charter.
Vassiliou said it was wrong to put doctors on the same level as people who consciously committed crimes: “And I am concerned whether these procedures force doctors at some stage to have as their main concern their own security instead of serving the patients.”
Vice Chairman of the State Doctors’ Association Petros Petrides suggested that his colleagues had been tried by the media long before they went to trial.
He blamed the boy’s death on the working conditions of state doctors and also warned that doctors could from now on look out for themselves first.
Health Ministry Permanent Secretary Andys Tryfonides conceded that the problems of the state health sector were well known but rejected Petrides’ claims.
“I don’t think it’s right to blame it on working conditions; it’s a specific event with specific behaviours and actions by doctors,” Tryfonides said.
He warned against generalisations that could create and establish the perception among the public that the level of health care in Cyprus was very low or dangerous.
The mitigation hearing for the two doctors found guilty is scheduled for tomorrow while sentencing is expected to take place early next week.
