Make a donation by telephone!

Teledon valid in Romtelecom network:

• 0900 900 545 pentru   5 euro
• 0900 900 547 pentru 10 euro

Story of a lost hand

Ioana Maria was born on the 15th July 2008. The joy we experienced while waitning for the birth of our first child turned into a terrible surpise. We have wanted very much a child.

Our daughter was born without half of the right forearm and hand. More specifically, according to the Medical Letter of 15/07/2008

Our present demarche envisages regular people, those people that like us experience unexpected problems. Moreover, people that are confronted by the very issues they try to prevent or remediate when they occur. We do not intend, however, to measure our sufferance with anyone else’s.

The gravity of our situation, we believe, lies not with the final medical act in itself; it rather lies with the faulty manner in which the pregnancy was monitored all along its development, with the doctors’ unsound and unprofessional explanations; also, with what could have been done to prevent this if the problem would have been traced in due course; ultimately, with what could be done now, within a collapsing medical system or, the way various ministers like to optimistically put it, in full reconstruction.

Of course there are far more difficult medical cases. But as already said, we do not intend to measure our pain with no one else’s. We do not even desire to tell our story. What compels us, however, to go publicly with it is our deep desire that at least another child might be saved from now on. Read these lines with the hope that another child and its family will not have to experience our sufferance.

What we intend to emphasise is the seriousness of the negligence, disinterest, self-sufficiency and unprofessionalism characterising the medical personnel and more precisely the employees of Giulesti Maternity (although not exclusively). We want to signal to lack of quality of the medical act in Romania and the lack of responsibility for mal praxis; also, we want to signal the consequences of any moment of inattentiveness from both the clients/patients and (first and foremost) the medical personnel.

Step by step, we started to understand the issue of responsibilities. Normally, the correct monitoring of pregnancy should exclusively lie with the specialised medical personnel. However, given that even in this regard things go otherwise in Romania comparing with the true civilised countries, in such cases the beneficiary/patient should constantly check on the quality of the medical act.

We used to have full confidence in the doctors’ professionalism, since they boasted – and still do – on their professionalism. And indeed, is it normal that the parents to be test or doubt the resolutions of an expert? Normally not. But?

It looks like in order to get more security we need to ask the doctor to thoroughly explain, step by step, everything that he/she does and to solicit the repetition of the procedure if something seems suspicious or we do not understand what is all about. At the end of the day, the doctor is supposed an action for which he/she is correctly payed, according to their financial demands.

In so far as the beneficiary/patient pays correctly, and at times more than that, why is he/she not entitled to a complete medical act, consistent with the pecuniary demands of the doctor – to expect that to the medical profession vocation should be pre-eminent sounds naïve, isn’t it?

What are our advices for you, advises that originate from an unfortunate experience? Here they are:

Choose your doctor carefully.
- Get information about his/her professional past.
- Verify thoroughly all the medical procedures.
- Request thorough explanations concerning how things go on with the pregnancy. If you do not understand, insist until you receive satisfactory answers.
- At the end of each provedure and the payment you make, request the appropriate receipt.
- Do not accept a medical procedure which is not accompanied by a document signed and stamped by the respective doctor.