Ploiești: 72-year-old patient dies after admission to a private care clinic. Police investigating

A private rehabilitation and long-term medical care clinic in Ploiești is under police investigation following the death of a 72-year-old patient who had been admitted there for several serious conditions.

The man had been admitted to the centre on 21 July. On 28 August, his family had decided to move him to another facility, but that same day his daughter received a phone call from a nurse at the clinic, who told her that her father's oxygen saturation had dropped while he was being fed by nursing assistants. An ambulance was called from SAJ Prahova.

According to George Duță, spokesperson for SAJ Prahova, the crew found the patient in a "deteriorated general condition" — aphasic and with motor deficits on the left side of his body — and the initial call-out report noted a suspected stroke.

At Ploiești County Hospital, however, investigations revealed a reality very different from what the family had been told. The man's daughter recalls: "It was only at the County Hospital that I was told he had arrived with multiple skull fractures. He is in a deep coma, his brain flooded with blood, and they said he would most likely never recover."

Andrei Ilinca, medical director of Ploiești County Hospital, explained: "The patient arrived in a serious general condition — specifically, in a deep coma. He underwent imaging investigations, including a CT scan of the head and other body segments, and traumatic lesions were identified at brain level."

The doctors notified the police, following the standard protocol applied in cases involving traumatic injuries. "The police are also informed from the outset in order to clarify any potential aspects of the case," the medical director stated.

The patient's daughter described the discrepancy between the explanation she received from the clinic and the reality found at the hospital: "I was told his oxygen saturation had dropped while they were feeding him, and at the hospital, when I asked whether they thought he had fallen or been struck, they said they didn't know and that they had contacted the police."

The patient was subsequently transferred to Spitalul Elias in Bucharest for neurosurgical assessment. He died on 8 September, eleven days after being admitted. The death certificate, issued by the National Institute of Forensic Medicine, lists among the causes a skull fracture, subarachnoid haemorrhage, and craniocerebral trauma.

Police have opened a criminal file on charges of manslaughter, with the investigation now coordinated by a prosecutor from the Prosecutor's Office attached to Ploiești District Court. Cătălina Mocanu, spokesperson for IPJ Prahova, confirmed that enquiries are continuing on this basis.

When contacted by Digi24, lawyers representing the company that operates the clinic issued a statement saying that the firm has cooperated and will continue to cooperate fully with the authorities, making all requested documents and information available. They emphasised that the existence of an investigation and the filing of charges do not amount to an establishment of facts or liability, and that until the enquiries are concluded, any conclusions regarding the causes of the incident must be viewed with the caution warranted by the unfinished nature of the proceedings.