Tension between doctor and hospital management leads to death of 2-month-old baby

According to the information obtained, 2-month-old Hamza Delikanlı, who lived in the Sincik district of Adıyaman, was taken to Sincik State Hospital by his family after he fell ill.

After receiving initial treatment and being intubated there, baby Hamza was then transferred to Adıyaman Training and Research Hospital. Upon being admitted to the intensive care unit there, baby Hamza was diagnosed with MALIGN Pertussis.

Pediatric Intensive Care Specialist Dr. Güner Özçelik requested that a MEKİCKS MV200 device be procured and applied to the child. Dr. Özçelik, who prepared a report for the procurement of the device, gave the report to the family, stating that they should submit it to the hospital management and that this device needed to be obtained as soon as possible.

When baby Hamza's father, Tacettin Delikanlı, applied to the hospital management with the report and stated that they needed the device and that it should be procured, the hospital management allegedly stated that the child's condition was good and that there was no need for the device.

"I WAS CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A PERSONAL DISPUTE BETWEEN THE HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT AND THE DOCTOR, AND I LOST MY CHILD"

Emphasizing that the device was procured days later only after the child's condition worsened, that the child lost his life before the device arrived, and that he has taken the situation to the prosecutor's office, father Tacettin Delikanlı said, “My 2-month-old baby was intubated around 2 a.m. in the Sincik district of Adıyaman and transferred to Adıyaman Training and Research Hospital. He was admitted to the intensive care unit here and passed away because a device did not arrive.

My child passed away in this hospital due to negligence. The doctor presented an urgency by requesting that the device be purchased and brought. I went to the chief physician's office, I went to see İbrahim Tunç, who is responsible for the intensive care unit; he first told me, 'Okay, we will solve the problem.' When I went on the second day, he told me, 'I will not bring a device just because that doctor says so.' Because of their personal issues, our device did not arrive. The device was dispatched on the 8th day but it did not arrive in time; my child died. I want whoever is responsible for this situation to be held accountable. I do not want this incident to be covered up.

Pediatric Intensive Care Specialist Dr. Güner Özçelik told me that this device had been tried on a child with the same illness before and that the child's life had been saved. My child had also been diagnosed with what is called pertussis.

I was caught in the middle of a personal dispute between the hospital management and the doctor, and I lost my child. No matter how many times I applied to the hospital management, they did not care about me, they ignored me; they always told me that the doctor was deceiving me and that the device was already in the hospital, and they said the device was unnecessary. They also told me that my child's condition was good.

When I asked my doctor, he had told me that my child's condition was very bad and that the device needed to arrive as soon as possible. I even gave the hospital management the documents stating that the device needed to be purchased, which my doctor had provided with his own signature and stamp, but no one paid attention to me. I lost my child because of this situation, and I filed a complaint against all of them. I have been burned, let no one else be burned; I lost my child, let no one else lose their child,” he said.

Adıyaman Training and Research Hospital Pediatric Intensive Care Specialist Dr. Güner Özçelik, who made statements regarding the events and recounted them one by one, said, “The patient named Hamza Delikanlı was admitted to our hospital as an emergency due to respiratory arrest during his transfer from Sincik State Hospital to Ankara. When the patient arrived, his lungs were in bad condition. He had a severe ARDS profile. We quickly stabilized the patient, but I considered putting the patient on natural HFO because one of our 2-month-old patients who arrived in the same way recently had benefited from the device we requested.

I thought this device could be beneficial for this patient as well. I gave this information to the father to ensure the procurement of this device. However, the hospital management sent him away after informing him, 'We will not do what this doctor wants, and we will not buy this device.' Upon this, I prepared a technical report stating that the patient could recover and handed it to the father to be given to the management. When the father applied to the management again with the report, the management said that the patient was fine and that they had all kinds of devices in the hospital, even though they had not seen the patient.

Yes, we have two mechanical ventilators with HFO in our hospital, but they are not natural HFO. Despite this, I tried both of these devices with the assistance of a neonatologist, but I was not successful. Upon this, the patient's relative applied to the hospital management many times. However, the hospital management did not want to procure this device and it was said that the patient was fine. Upon the worsening of the patient's condition and the family's pressure on the management, the management came to me. They asked for information about this device.

I said that the previous patient had benefited from this device but that it was too late in the process that had passed. When the hospital management asked if it would still be beneficial if it were purchased, I said that the patient was still alive, and the device was procured, but unfortunately, we lost the patient while the device was on the way, and the device reached the hospital a day later,” he said.

"I THINK THE PATIENT WOULD HAVE LIVED IF THE DEVICE HAD ARRIVED"

Emphasizing that he thinks the patient could have lived if the hospital management had procured the device on the first day and if the device had arrived, Dr. Özçelik said, “Because they procured the device on the last day instead of when it was first requested, the device could not be given to the patient, and I think the hospital management is guilty of gross negligence. I had difficulties with the management when I requested devices or other things before, and that is why I usually directed the families to ensure that the procurements were faster. When I made a request for a patient before, the hospital management did not buy it, but when I directed the family, the thing I wanted was bought on the same day. That is why I stopped requesting things myself and started directing families directly to ensure they were obtained faster.”

"I FILED REPORTS BUT RECEIVED NO RESULTS"

Stating that one of the reasons the hospital management did not listen to him stemmed from the reports he had previously filed regarding the hospital, Dr. Özçelik said, “I submitted some reports to the hospital due to the problems there. None of them were resolved anyway. There are some major problems. I think patients are suffering greatly because of these problems. Because of these, I submitted some reports to the hospital, and because of this, my relationship with the management is not very good.

Interventions are made especially by looking at the political power of the patients. For example, even for patients who have no urgency, a place is immediately arranged from Ankara and patient transfers are made with air ambulances even though I did not request it. But they do not care about patients who have no power. I think the hospital is not managed well. I think many patients are lost unnecessarily because they do not receive adequate treatment,” he said.

Baby Hamza's father, Taceddin Delikanlı, who filed a criminal complaint against the Adıyaman Training and Research Hospital management with the Adıyaman Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Health, and the Chamber of Physicians, also said that he does not want the perpetrators to go unpunished.

News Source: İHA