Doctors to stand trial for boy’s death

TWO MAKARIOS hospital doctors will stand trial in Nicosia this November for causing the death of a 10-year-old boy five years ago.

Sixty-three-year-old paediatrician Dr Michalis Agastiniotis and 52-year-old gastroenterologist Dr Michalis Lerios appeared in court on Wednesday facing charges of causing the death of 10-year-old Demi Loizou. The doctors are accused of causing the boy’s death due to a thoughtless, foolish or dangerous act, which is not related to responsible negligence, on March 25, 1999.

According to the prosecution charges, between March 4 and 22, 1999, Lerios was acting as a specialist in gastroenterology. With the consent of the hospital’s paediatric department head, Agastiniotis, Lerios prescribed the 10-year-old with Salofalc. The medication caused Demi acute toxicity, which led to the child’s death.

The doctors have pleaded not guilty to the charges and their trial date was set for November 1, this year.

An intense investigation followed Demi’s tragic death five years ago and according to the case file, witnesses have stated he never should have been administered Salofalc which they say destroyed his liver in a short period of time.

Among the prosecution witnesses to be called is the boy’s father, Vassos Loizou, who is a nurse by profession. Doctors and coroners are also expected to testify, including state pathologist Sophoclis Sophocleous and DIKO MEP Marios Matsakis. According to legal circles, both coroners’ testimonies are deemed to be of decisive importance.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.