The Ministry of Health (MS) yesterday approved the report by the commission that conducted an inquiry at the Slatina Emergency Hospital into the case of a 9-year-old boy who died after he broke his forearm. The commission recommended that the orthopaedist on duty and the head of the Surgery and Orthopaedics Department should have their work contracts terminated on grounds of breach of duty. The inquiry commission examined both the administrative and medical handling of the case. It concluded the child received appropriate care before hospitalization and at the Emergency Reception Unit. Nonetheless, he was not examined properly upon his admission to the Orthopaedics and Paediatric Surgery Department or during hospitalization, May 23-26, 2010. According to the report, ‘the patient was discharged under improper circumstances, on the basis of a misread X-ray and without being examined upon discharge.’ The document also shows that, although the patient was operated upon when his general condition worsened, on his second admission to hospital, May 26, 11:45 pm, the surgical option was reckoned as insufficient given the serious condition the patient was in. According to the official website of the Slatina-based hospital, Surgeon Mircea Tusciuc of the Infantile Surgery and Orthopaedics Department, who was accused by the boy’s father of allegedly demanding 20 RON to attend to the boy, earned a net salary of 5,956 RON in April.
