Following the steps taken so far regarding the death of the 25-year-old man at the Buzău County Emergency Hospital, The Foundation For The Defense Of The Citizens Against State Abuses (FACIAS) has notified the Public Prosecutor's Office of Buzău for the possible commission of the crime of manslaughter by negligence.
The complaint lodged by FACIAS concerns the fact that the medical staff of the Buzău County Emergency Hospital did not intervene in a timely manner in the case of Gabriel Bumbăcea, although he had a serious femur fracture and was hospitalized under medical supervision. The doctors decided to postpone the surgery from January 2 to January 5, during which time the patient's condition worsened and he died on the very day the surgery was scheduled, surgery which could have saved his life.
According to the preliminary medical information that has appeared in the public domain, resulting from the necropsy and consulted by FACIAS, the cause of Gabriel Bumbăcea's death was a pulmonary thromboembolism. A severe complication associated with prolonged immobilization, it is a major risk in the case of femur fractures.
To support the criminal complaint, FACIAS cited the opinion of experts from the Orthopaedics and Traumatology Commission of the Romanian College of Physicians on the medical risks associated with this type of injury. According to the specialists of the Romanian College of Physicians, femoral shaft fracture in young patients is usually the consequence of a high-energy trauma and should not be analyzed alone, but in the context of a possible polytrauma, as the risks are not limited to the fractured bone alone.
The College of Physicians also emphasizes that postponement of surgery can only be justified in limited situations, particularly in the case of polytraumatized patients, when immediate surgery would involve a major risk to their life. Apart from such strictly defined medical contexts, surgery remains the main therapeutic solution for the management of a femoral shaft fracture.
The accident in which the young man was involved occurred during a vacation period. Prosecutors have yet to establish the reasons for the postponement of the surgery and whether the postponement was due to the medical staff's wish to continue their vacation or whether there was an objective reason for the decision.
FACIAS is calling on prosecutors to quickly investigate the case of the 25-year-old man who died after his life-saving surgery was postponed over the weekend.