Woman set on fire during surgery in Romania dies
A woman in Romania has died, eight days after she was set on fire during surgery, The Guardian reports.
The country’s health ministry said the 66-year-old patient was undergoing a procedure on Dec. 22 at Floreasca Hospital in Bucharest to treat her pancreatic cancer.
Prior to the surgery, the patient had been treated with an alcohol-based disinfectant. But doctors used an electric scalpel, and when it came into contact with the alcohol it set the woman’s body on fire.
The Guardian reports a nurse quickly tossed a bucket of water on the woman to stop the fire from spreading.
BBC News reports she suffered burns to 40% of her body.
Romanian politician Emanuel Ungureanu posted on Facebook that he has requested that an investigation be opened into the death.
“The truth must come to light and the medical staff in Romania need to know in detail where it was wrong to not repeat such a tragedy,” Ungureanu wrote.
The BBC reports the woman’s family told Romanian media they haven’t been told any details from the hosptial.
“We found out some details from the press, when they were broadcast on TV stations,” they said. “We aren’t making accusations, we just want to understand what happened.”
Chris Pastrick is a TribLive digital producer. An Allegheny County native, he began working for the Valley News Dispatch in 1993 and joined the Trib in 1997. He can be reached at cpastrick@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.