Patients refuse admission to Bucharest hospital after doctors were detained for murder

Doctors at the Pantelimon Hospital in Bucharest say that patients refuse to be admitted there and ask if they will be given noradrenaline after authorities detained two doctors last week, accusing them of first-degree murder and attempted murder in connection with suspicious patient deaths.

The investigation began on April 11, following a report by the hospital's director of care, who claimed that between April 4 and 7, 2024, 17 patients in the ICU died after their noradrenaline doses were deliberately reduced. Initial internal investigations carried out by the Health Ministry's control body and the Bucharest College of Physicians announced no wrongdoings.

Doctors at the hospital say that the media coverage of the affair has only increased pressure on the staff. They also say that patients have become suspicious.

“They simply refuse admission. The first thing they ask is: Will I need norepinephrine? Regardless of the problem they came for. They say: I don't want to stay here, I saw what’s happening on TV,” Fiorela Mitoiu, an ER doctor and the hospital's spokesperson, told Digi24.

“We also have confirmation from our colleagues in the ambulance services, both from SABIF and SMURD, who tell us that patients refuse transport when they are told they will be taken to our hospital. They have become more suspicious of absolutely everything, we find ourselves being called at the department and triage and being threatened, cursed,” the doctor adds.

Meanwhile, new information has emerged from the criminal investigation involving the doctors at Pantelimon Hospital. Testimonies show that parallel to the doctors who were reducing norepinephrine doses, the nurses were supplementing medications directly into IVs to save patients.

“The accused, after making these adjustments, would periodically check the patient’s condition to see if they had died,” testified a nurse from St. Pantelimon, whose statement is included in the prosecutor's report for the preventive detention of the two doctors. The report also states that the accused doctors often replaced norepinephrine with saline solution.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos | George Calin)