Hospital chief quits after suit
The director of Thessaloniki’s state AHEPA hospital resigned on Saturday, just one day after legal action was taken against AHEPA doctors by the son of a 76-year-old man who died outside the hospital’s emergency department last month after staff allegedly ignored pleas to give him immediate medical attention. Theoharis Siotis had only occupied the dual post of hospital director and manager since last December. Victor Polydorou – whose action against AHEPA’s doctors is being backed by the Association of Victims of Medical Mistakes – said his father Evangelos had suffered fainting fits before being taken to the hospital’s emergency department, where he received a ticket bearing the number 99 and was told to wait his turn, in spite of his excessively irregular blood pressure. He died two hours later despite repeated appeals by his son to hospital staff (over the telephone) for assistance. The elderly man’s death could have been avoided and those responsible should be punished, Victor Polydorou told reporters yesterday. An investigation has been ordered into the incident.
