Nuțica Baluș died of an acute myocardial infarction four days after an emergency room doctor diagnosed her with acute pharyngitis and suspected COVID-19, hotnews.ro reported.
She went to the Bacău County Emergency Hospital on October 12, 2021, after suffering from a sore throat. Dr. Laura Cristina Vrabie examined her at the facility. Medical staff performed an electrocardiogram during the visit. The patient received a prescription for Nurofen and an antibiotic before staff sent her home.
Dorian Ilie found his mother sitting on a bed in cardiac arrest around noon on October 16, 2021. An ambulance arrived twenty-five minutes later. Paramedics attempted resuscitation without success and pronounced her dead. A subsequent police investigation and a medical expert report from Iași determined that the emergency documentation showed an evolving heart attack and that the doctor failed to follow standard cardiological protocols.
Prosecutors at the Bacău Prosecutor’s Office closed the criminal case in December 2024. The dismissal ordinance stated that, in the absence of a medico-legal autopsy of the body, the medical cause of death could not be established with certainty.
Dorian Ilie filed a contestation against the dismissal ordinance on December 16, 2024. He argued that the prosecutor incorrectly invalidated the conclusions of the official medical expert report. On Christmas Eve, the Bacău Prosecutor’s Office rejected the complaint as unfounded and maintained the decision to close the case regarding Dr. Laura Cristina Vrabie.
The Bacău County College of Physicians launched a disciplinary investigation in December 2021 following a complaint from the victim’s son. Dr. Laura Cristina Vrabie defended her actions by stating that assistants did not inform her that the patient required immediate care and that the patient never reported chest pain.
The local disciplinary commission consulted cardiologist Roxana Lepădatu, who concluded that, in the context of the SARS-CoV-2 infection, the sudden death occurring a few days after the emergency room presentation could not be attributed with certainty to an acute myocardial infarction. The Bacău disciplinary commission dismissed the complaint on July 4, 2024.
The Superior Disciplinary Commission found that the doctor had not proven correct management of the medical situation: had the patient's condition been correctly assessed and diagnosed, the subsequent course of events could have been different. The commission ruled that Dr. Laura Cristina Vrabie violated articles 5 and 8 of the Code of Medical Deontology and issued a formal warning.
Dr. Laura Cristina Vrabie works at the Bacău County Emergency Hospital.
Dorian Ilie stated that he lacks the emotional and financial resources to pursue a civil lawsuit against the doctor after five years of legal proceedings.
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