- After a 9-year investigation, the court adjourned the case to correct the allegation
- According to the prosecutor’s office, the patient with a serious heart problem was admitted to three hospitals and finally died in a fourth
Are dangerous additives such as anabolics and steroids or three cardiologists from Plovdiv to blame for the death of 39-year-old bodybuilder Yanko Dishev? This question will seek an answer in the District Court when the case moves forward.
This will happen in months at the earliest because the 9 years since the death of the bodybuilder, who died on December 5, 2013, were not enough to write an indictment worthy of standing in court.
The three cardiologists – Dr. Teofil Gruev, Dr. Okan Aliman and Dr. Emil Ortomarov – stood up to answer
charge of medical malpractice
But the panel, headed by judge Ivan Minchev, returned the charge for procedural violations.
Doctors appeared with five lawyers who tried to end the proceedings.
“The case could not be started for so long, because
many tests have been done”,
Prosecutor Danaila Stankova explained to “24 Chasa”. According to the lawyers, these cases are very difficult, as the tests carry a lot of weight and are performed by other doctors. In such cases, some cite the proverb “A crow does not gouge out a crow’s eye.”
According to the prosecutor’s office, bodybuilder Dishev died as a result of medical errors committed by the three specialists. The patient was admitted with heart ailments on November 23, 2013 at Plovdiv Municipal Hospital “Saint Panteleimon”. There he was examined by Dr. Teofil Gruev, but according to the indictment, until November 29, the doctor did not make a full description of the patient’s condition, did not interpret the test data and did not prescribe additional tests for his condition . Disev
he was discharged, but went to another hospital on December 2 with a new crisis
– the private “Saint Caridad”. Dr. Okan Aliman was on duty there, but did not show up at the emergency room to examine and admit the patient, but sent him back to “St. Panteleimon”. This healthcare facility has a lower level of expertise.
Later on the same date, Dishev went to a third hospital – UMBAL “Plovdiv”. He was not hospitalized in a timely manner and the prosecution points to Dr. Emil Ortomarov as the culprit. Eventually, the patient was admitted to “St. Caridad”, where they found that he was in very serious condition, and sent him to “St. George” UMBAL. He died there on December 5, 2013.
Over the next nine years, the investigation was also conducted against another doctor, who, however, died – Dr. Plamen Milushev.
This was underlined by one of Okan Aliman’s three defenders, the lawyer Emilia Nedeva
many procedural violations were committed in the prosecution,
that prevent the implementation of adequate protection. He criticized the general wording of what was written in it and the lack of detail. “The quoted texts contain many hypotheses and the prosecutor did not bother to specify what exactly it is,” said Nedeva.
He insisted that data be extracted separately for each of the three doctors, as soon as the prosecution spoke of independent complicity.
Nedeva explained that when it comes to examining the merits of the case, he will also comment on a possible complicity on the part of the deceased and, in the course of the proceedings, the medicines he has taken, the tests he has undergone and his regimen will be examined.
His colleague Boyko Bosev also spoke out about the bodybuilder’s potential blame for his condition, noting that he used steroids that may have damaged his heart.
The inaccuracy of the accusation was not the only problem raised by the defenders to the three doctors. Emil Ortomarov’s lawyer – Vangel Kolev, indicated that an administrative fine has already been imposed on his client for what happened –
a fine of BGN 200, and cannot be prosecuted for the same
According to the prosecutor, the requests for closure of the proceeding are unfounded. But the court found that there were indeed violations that limited the defendants’ rights. The prosecution has 7 days to challenge the return of the indictment.
After 12 years, a widower is suing a hospital over his wife’s death
One of the few cases won for medical malpractice in Plovdiv in recent years is for the death of Stanka Kalajdzhieva, which occurred on November 20, 2009 in the “Selena” hospital. The woman underwent a routine operation to remove a fibroid, but during the procedure her pulse dropped to 50 beats per minute and her blood pressure dropped to 90 out of 45.
The woman was injected with adrenaline, she was given artificial respiration, but it did not help. She was sent to the emergency department of UMBAL “St. Giorgio”. However, she dies there.
Her husband, Petar Kalajjiev filed a civil lawsuit against ‘Selena’ hospital which lasted for years with drastic twists and turns. Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled that the man should receive compensation of 150,000 levs.
