After a common arm fracture, the nine-year-old boy was taken to the Slatina Hospital's orthopedics ward, where his arm was put in the cast. He was kept in the hospital three days and then he was released. While on their way home, the boy's mother noticed that his arm had turned black and blue so they returned to the hospital, where doctors amputated the boy's arm. Complication appeared and the boy was sent to Bucharest's Grigore Alexandrescu Hospital by helicopter. But he never made it to Bucharest because he died on the way, according to Realitatea.net.

The boy's father, from a poor family, says doctors at the Slatina Emergency Hospital asked him for money, but all he had was 20 lei. The man thinks the sum didn't satisfy doctors, who treated the boy's case superficially. Moreover, the man says he was forced to buy medicine for the boy's treatment because the hospital didn't have any.

"The doctor is to blame for not taking care of the child. Doctors asked me for money when I took the child to the hospital. They asked me for money to pay us any attention," the father said.

"We got no treatment in the hospital. The child told me, 'mom, my arm hurts,' and when I told this to doctors, they answered that I should give a child a suppository," the boy's mother added.

An investigation was launched inside the hospital, gathering Olt County Police and Health Ministry representatives. The main suspects in the case are the orthopedist and pediatrics surgeon who treated the child.

"Right now, each of them is blaming the other but in a day or two at most, the commission will pass a verdict," the head of the Slatina Emergency Hospital, Florin Paraschiva, said.

What's even more serious is the fact that the boy apparently received no medical attention and was discharged in a severe condition.

"We will investigate to see who is responsible in the case. If a child with an open fracture was released without getting proper treatment, including antibiotics, it means things didn't work as they should have," said Health Ministry undersecretary of state Raed Arafat.

The case was also brought to Health Minister Cseke Attila's attention, who said that the guilty ones must pay.

"I am outraged. I don't think it's normal that in 2010, in a civilized country, a child or a young person can die because of a fracture. After the Oradea case, when a 17-year-old died also because of a fracture, this is the second case of the kind in less than four months," the minister told Realitatea TV.

Bucharest Herald