Romanian judges find flaws in prosecutors’ probe on orthopedic surgeon

The Bucharest Court’s judges decided yesterday to place Romanian orthopedic surgeon Gheorghe Burnei under judicial control and lift the house arrest measure against him. The prosecutors charged Burnei with bribery and placed him under house arrest. The investigation doesn’t show, “contrary to the prosecutors’ claims, that the defendant would have conditioned the medical act to receiving bribes”, according to the Bucharest Court, reports local Mediafax. The magistrates said that there are environmental interceptions proving that the doctor had refused bribes. Gheorghe Burnei was arrested on December 10 on charges of bribery. He is also suspected of having carried out unauthorized experiments on the children he operated, which may have led to the death or permanent disability of some of his patients. The judges also said that the malpractice charges haven’t been proven. The malpractice accusations need to be analyzed by the College of physicians, the National Institute of Legal Medicine, and the Commission of Bioethics, according to the judges. editor@romania-insider.com