An appeal court, which had awarded the parents and relatives of a 14-year-old boy the amount of 260.000 euros for the mental suffering they suffered from the untimely and unjust death of their son, brother and grandson, who within 24 hours lost his life from meningococcal sepsis, ratified by the Council of State. The doctor on duty at a hospital in Epirus ruled that the unfortunate minor had a viral infection and sent him home.
In particular, on February 22, 1998, the 14-year-old was transported by his mother at noon that day to the outpatient clinics with a high fever (40 degrees), headache, cough, nausea, dizziness and tendency to vomit. There, the on-duty specialist examined him and ordered a new thermometer, as well as a facial x-ray, hematological and biochemical examinations, and placed serum on him. He was then injected intramuscularly and given antipyretic drug, with the result that, after half an hour, the fever subsided to 38,5 and later to 37,5.
After the examinations, the doctor ruled out the case of meningitis and diagnosed a viral infection with a possibility of complication from the sinuses, while he considered that it was not necessary to admit him to the hospital, prescribed him medication (antibiotic and antipyretic drug) and left the hospital.
The decision of the CoE, as noted by the Athens News Agency, states that for 4 hours that remained in the hospital the unfortunate minor was not examined by a specialist doctor, because the specialist doctor (physician, curator BD), was allegedly constantly employed in the Department of Pathology. .
However, at 03:00, the 14-year-old was transported in a state of shock by his parents and again rushed to the hospital. When he arrived at the hospital for the second time in a few hours, he had a "generalized purplish rash, although he had his own breath, but was in a state of shock." Despite the efforts of the medical staff for about two hours for cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the student died at around 5:45 ".
The cause of death of the forensic report was: "Bilateral adrenal hemorrhage, due to infection of the body by a toxic bacterium, as a meningococcal infection, without the participation of the meninges." The same report concludes that "the death was due to pathological causes and resulted from bilateral adrenal hemorrhage of infectious etiology (Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome)".
The president of the hospital ordered a Sworn Administrative Examination, which concluded that "no responsibilities and omissions of medical procedures arose from the hospital staff and put the case on file." Nevertheless, with a decision of the Council of Criminal Procedure, the responsible doctors of the hospital who were on duty on the day in question and the president of the hospital were referred to trial, but in the end only the doctor on duty was found guilty of negligent homicide and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
He was found guilty because "he did not correctly assess the clinical symptoms and misdiagnosed that it was a viral infection, while based on the clinical symptoms he had to immediately admit the patient to the pathology clinic giving strong antibiotic fees. safe examination for the diagnosis of meningococcal disease that was rapid ".
The Court of Appeals upheld the Court of Appeal decision which awarded the two parents of the unfortunate minor, his sister, grandfather and two grandmothers the amount of 260.000 euros, while they asked the State for a total compensation of 607.123 euros for mental pain and 160.000 euros for deprivation of his future services.
Source: Newsbeast