The State Sanitary Inspection and the Control Body of the Ministry of Health are conducting investigations at the Burn Center of Floreasca Hospital in Bucharest, after the family of a critically burned patient spoke out about the “concentration camp” conditions she endured. The testimonies were read by the Minister of Health, Alexandru Rogobete, who stated that “it is unacceptable, inadmissible, that in Romania in 2025 a patient should suffer in pain, crying for help.” He also reported the case to the Medical Council. The woman was hospitalized for 53 days after the central heating system in her home exploded. During this time, she contracted several bacterial infections, cried out in pain, underwent multiple surgeries, while cockroaches were crawling around the room just meters away from the critically ill patient’s bed.

Minister Alexandru Rogobete announced on Monday that he has ordered investigations at the Burn Center of the Floreasca Emergency Clinical Hospital in Bucharest.

 “I ordered a thorough inspection last week by the State Sanitary Inspection, targeting the reported issues related to hygiene, healthcare-associated infections, and compliance with disinfection protocols. At the same time, the Control Body of the Ministry of Health is conducting an administrative investigation into the cleaning, disinfection, and pest control contracts, as well as the situation regarding the stock of painkillers,” stated the Minister of Health. 

Rogobete said he read the patient’s open letter very carefully.

 “Her testimony is harrowing. It is unacceptable, inadmissible, that in Romania in 2025 a patient should suffer in pain, crying for help. There is no excuse for the lack of empathy and proper pain management. I have officially reported the case to the Romanian Medical Council and requested the initiation of a disciplinary investigation regarding the application of the therapeutic analgesia protocol in this case,” the Minister of Health further stated. 

He also emphasized his determination to take all necessary measures.

 “I won’t accept explanations without evidence and I will not tolerate any deviation from the fundamental duty of every medical professional: care for the patient. The inspection is ongoing, and once it is completed, we will make the full report public. Patients must be protected, listened to, and treated with dignity. I will not take a single step back,” Minister Rogobete declared. 

The patient’s sister, who donated skin for the surgeries, detailed the entire situation in several Facebook posts. She suffered burns herself after the central heating system exploded, and re-entered the house to save her two small children.

In one of her posts, she speaks about the lack of hygiene and attaches photos of cockroaches seen near the bed of the critically burned patient.

Later, she recounted that her sister had contracted multiple bacterial infections during hospitalization, with the diagnosis confirmed by doctors in Belgium, where she eventually managed to transfer her.

 “Lavinia’s grafts are largely compromised! The bacteria have caused and continue to cause the grafts to deteriorate, fall off, and create new wounds. Only the palms (inside and out) and the outer area of the arms—between the wrist and the elbow—are covered with skin and DO NOT require new surgical interventions. THAT’S ALL! After 53 days!!!” the sister wrote on Facebook.

“In the CONCENTRATION CAMP of Floreasca, these wounds were treated monstrously, by letting the affected areas stick to the bedsheets and then being ripped off brutally, causing excruciating pain and preventing any chance of healing. When Lavinia cried and begged for solutions, you told me she wasn’t cooperative, that her weight was to blame, that she hadn’t suffered burns on her anal sphincter (...) The verdict from Belgium: the road will be longer than initially estimated. The road will be full of pain, anesthesia, cleanings, surgeries. BUT, in the end, Lavinia will walk out of the hospital and we will return home,” the woman added. 

She also provided details to Radio Free Europe, stating that both she and her uncle, who are DNA-compatible with the patient, donated pieces of skin to help save Lavinia.

Using the skin grafts donated by her relatives, doctors covered the burned areas on Lavinia’s calves. After the first few days, Lavinia was able to stand up. The family began to hope.

However, the patient was receiving treatment with strong antibiotics.

 “The doctors told me that the bacteria didn’t exist, but the medications were being given as a precaution. Yet my sister was feeling worse and worse. Because her condition began to deteriorate, I submitted a written request to the hospital asking for medical details about her state. At first, they didn’t respond,” Alina recounts. 

She says she insisted.

She even went to the Ministry of Health and requested access to her sister’s medical records.

 “That’s when I discovered she had been infected with several bacteria, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa (piocianic),” Lavinia’s older sister told Radio Free Europe, also providing the document confirming this. 

At the beginning of July, Lavinia’s condition began to worsen.

 “After another surgery, her vital functions started to fail, her hemoglobin level was extremely low. That’s when we mobilized and donated blood. Even after receiving blood transfusions every day for a week, her hemoglobin levels did not improve,” the woman says. 

On July 16, doctors attempted another leg surgery, but due to her critical condition, the procedure was stopped.

That was the moment when doctors told the family that Lavinia was “a lost cause.”

 “I went with our parents to say goodbye. I started screaming and begging anyone who would listen to let me take her out of there,” the patient’s sister recounts. 

Starting in the second half of July, she began writing to hospitals abroad, asking them to admit her sister.

All of these hospitals requested additional documentation. But the hospital refused to provide it.

 “Doctors at Floreasca told me I couldn’t request a transfer because her condition was extremely severe and she wasn’t transportable. They also said I couldn’t apply for the European S2 form (which allows Romania to cover the cost of medical treatment abroad) because the Burn Center was authorized and operated at the highest standards. She could only have been transferred if she wasn’t in a certified burn center,” she explains. 

 Scris de News.ro | 28 iulie 2025, 12:37