28 June 2003

:: NEWS ::

Surgeons amputate hand of child from social institution

Investigators are working on a version that 3-year-old Dimitar had been tied with a rope

2002 news

On June 24 in Sofia surgeons amputated the hand (up to the wrist) of 3-year-old Dimitar Beloslavov from the social childcare institution "St. Ivan Rilski". The boy's arm had to be operated because of a necrosis in the right hand, possibly caused by tying with a rope.

Dimitar, who suffers from children's cerebral palsy, has lived in the social institution from his birth. The emergency medical team found the boy with his hand turned black and with signs of tying with a rope and missing fragments of skin on the palm. The institution personnel say that they had not tied Dimitar to the bed, but confess they had put a glove on his hand to prevent him biting it.

Doctors however believe that the necrosis occured as a result of long-term tying. They also say that the child was undernourished. Subsequent reports revealed that the nurse of duty Yordanka Paliiska had put a sock on the child's hand and tied it with a piece of rope in order to prevent his from putting it in his mouth.

Several days after the incident it was announced that 4 nurses and orderlies were to be dismissed from the social institution. Another five were to receive lighter administrative sanctions.

The nurse on duty has been questioned by police. The Ministry of Healthcare has ordered an inquiry, and the Agency for Child Protection has sent a report to the prosecutor's office. The agency also recommended that the health minister dismisses the institution's director.

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