THE ATTORNEY-general’s office yesterday said it could be at least another week before any decision was taken over potential criminal or administrative responsibilities in the operating theatre death of a 14-year-old boy in late April.
On Wednesday, Health Minister Frixos Savvides said there was a disciplinary case for the doctors involved in the death of Georgios Hadgidemetris.
Yesterday, Savvides met with Attorney-general Alecos Markides to discuss the findings of an administrative probe launched by the Health Ministry.
After the meeting, Savvides said there were disciplinary issues concerning the duties and behaviour of medical staff, adding that these issues were not necessarily linked to the boy’s death.
Deputy Attorney-general Petros Clerides said his office was awaiting the completion of the police inquiry into the death.
He said he expected to have the case file early next week after pathologist Marios Matsakis had submitted his report on the case. Matsakis observed the autopsy on behalf of the boy’s family.
“We have studied the Health Ministry’s report and have decided to wait for the police case file in order to look at them together,” Clerides said.
He added: “The police inquiry will be complete as soon as Mr. Matsakis submits his report on the cause of death.”
Clerides said that would be early next week, and that his office would take two to three days to decide on the course of action.
Inquiries into the untimely death of the 14-year-old boy were launched after his grief-stricken parents complained that hospital doctors had been cursory in their treatment of the minor injury that led to the boy’s death.
Tissue tests carried out in London showed the boy died of a shock to the lungs brought on by an infection.
An autopsy found that doctors in three instances had failed to remove a small piece of fabric from the boy’s trousers from the wound, caused by a rusty metal rod.
Matsakis has accused the doctors of negligence.
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