Pediatrician in a regional hospital of northern Greece was convicted by the Court of Appeal in prison for 2 yearswith a 3-year suspended sentence, as he was found guilty of the manslaughter of a 4-year-old boy in May 2017.

The child was taken by his parents to the hospital with severe abdominal pain and vomiting, and a few hours later he breathed his last due to intestinal torsion (necrosis).

The Three-member Court of Appeal of Thessaloniki found the doctor guilty, because he did not correctly diagnose the incident – based on the child’s symptoms – and did not organize his transfer to a larger hospital, with the result that the parents were forced to transport the 4-year-old in their own vehicle to a nursing institution in Thessaloniki, where finally, despite the efforts of the doctors, he died.

“No doctor has the right to overlook the patient’s symptoms,” the district attorney said in her admonition, speaking of a “scandalous underestimation” of the incident, while demanding the guilt of the accused doctor. “All he did throughout the child’s stay in the hospital was to repeat the same check that the specialist doctor had done before, resulting in the diagnosis he had initially put in his mind – that of a viral infection,” the prosecutor continued and added : “I am sorry that the child was not given any chance. […] He was helpless».

In his apology, the defendant stated that it was one of the most difficult incidents he had to deal with in his professional career.

“I thought it was an acute abdominal pain and was trying to investigate. He had no evidence of dehydration and shock. I was looking to see if there was anything to do with a shot he had a few days earlier for meningitis. Laboratory tests did not show anything worrisome. When the intestine turns it strangles the vascular disk, the mesenteric artery. This control cannot be done by regional hospitals. He wants a special protocol for this specific examination – it is done in a hospital x-ray laboratory which we did not have» apologized, among other things, the pediatrician, denying his criminal responsibilities.

The Court of Appeal ultimately found him guilty of manslaughter, granting him two mitigating factors (prior cohabitation and subsequent good behavior). In the court of first instance he was sentenced to 3 years in prison, with 3 years suspended.