A 33-year-old woman became confined to bed following medical examinations performed to confirm a diagnosis. The Moldova Center for Human Rights (CpDOM) has examined the circumstances of this case and, after ombudsman Anatolie Munteanu intervened, the woman was placed at a specialized hospital in Chisinau, IPN reports.
According to a communiqué of the CpDOM, the woman became confined to bed nine months ago, shortly after she was subject to lumbar puncture at the Floresti District Hospital in order to confirm the diagnosis made by the family doctor. During the first procedure to extract spinal liquid, the woman felt a pronounced pain in the leg. After the second puncture procedure, the woman was unable to walk. As she was unable to move, the third and fourth procedures were performed on a windowsill and a seat in the hospital room where she stayed.
Though doctors said the woman gave her consent to performing the examinations, there is no evidence showing that the patient was informed about the procedure to which she was subject, except for a signature put by her when she was discharged from the hospital. Moreover, the woman said she was against performing other procedures as she felt her state of health was worsening.
The woman complaint to the Moldova Center for Human Rights, saying she tried to prove the doctors’ blame through court, but didn’t manage to. She said she knows that medical examinations were to be performed at the Chisinau Legal Medicine Center, but she wasn’t contacted to be told the results.
The woman’s complaint was examined by ombudsman Anatolie Munteanu. As the woman refused to receive further treatment at the Floresti District Hospital, given the ordeal through which she went there, the CpDOM director asked the minister of health to immediately place the patient at one of the national medical institutions for treatment.