9th September: Justice and hypocrisy

People continue to leave their comments and fight Florentina's corner. This one is from the site Juridice and concerning an article written on 2nd September. Lucky Star says:

"dpdv juridic, arestarea asistentei este o aberatie. In conditiile in care ea este suspendata din functie, este evident ca nu mai poate savarsi alte fapte identice. Si atunci, unde este pericolul social ??!!
In realitate, arestarea s-a facut exclusiv ca urmare a circului mediatic fara precedent facut de televiziunile de stiri, care, in loc sa prezinte normal stirea, au facut din ea un “mod de viata”, ocupand spatiul de emisie de dimineata pana noaptea tarziu cu acest subiect. Din pacate, judecatorii s-au lasat prada efectului nociv al exagerarii mediatice. De fapt, in ultiii ani, exista multe astfel de arestari. s-a mers pana acolo incat chiar judecatorii, in hotararile de arestare, au scris despre “impactul negativ al inculpatului, care este cunoscut pe scara larga in tara” (a se vedea cazul becali) sau – chiar in cazul de fata – ca “s-a creat o puternica stare de frustrare la nivelul opiniei publice”. ESTE UN MARE PERICOL SA ARESTAM OAMENI PT. CA PRESA A MEDIATIZAT ULTRA-EXCESIV CAZUL RESPECTIV. Arestarea trebuie sa se bazeze pe argumente strict juridice, care nu trebuie sa aiba legatura cu gradul de popularitate al inculpatului sau cu nivelul de “oripilare” a opiniei publice."

Loosely translated by moi (and allow for poetic licence - any corrections gratefully received (!!):

'From a legal viewpoint, this nurse's arrest is an aberration. Given that she is suspended from duty, she is obviously unable to commit similar acts again. So, where's the social danger?! Actually, the arrest was made solely because of the unprecedented media circus on television news, which, instead of a normal news report, made it a " lifestyle", occupying air space from morning till night.
Unfortunately, judges let the harmful media exaggeration take effect. Over the years, there have been many such arrests. In their decisions for these arrests, judges have even gone as far as publicising comments such as "the negative impact of the defendant, who is widely known in the country " (see case Becali) or, even in this case, that the defendent has "created a strong feeling of frustration amongst the public".
IT IS HIGHLY DANGEROUS TO ARREST SOMEONE BECAUSE THE PRESS HAS ULTRA-EXCESSIVELY MEDIATISED A CASE. An arrest must be based purely on legal arguments, which should not have to do with the popularity of the defendant or the level of " oripilare " public opinion.'

Bravo Lucky Star for your intelligent assessment of the situation and also my thanks to Florina for finding and sending it on.

I spoke to a student of mine in Bucharest tonight who told me that Florentina had been reported as 'suicidal'. Hardly surprising considering the circumstances. Somebody else mentioned that she was under preventive arrest 'so that she could not commit suicide' and furthermore, another opinion, 'so that no one will kill her - she is very hated in Roumania'. Poor Florentina.

My same student this evening told me that she knew someone, an anaesthetist, who had worked in a hospital just outside Bucharest for several years. She left, however and went to work within the private sector, as it had ended up at one point with her being the ONLY anaesthetist for 6 operations all going on at the same time. "Imagine!" said my student. i tried and failed. Any one of those patients under anaesthetic could have died. She could have been another Florentina - a scapegoat for low funding, no staff and an appalling system. She didn't hang around long enough to end up in Florentina's shoes and got the hell out of Dodge. Good thinking. No wonder there are so few good staff. No wonder they flee the country. And Seitan said it was great they could make their lives elsewhere... idiot. Glad he's gone. Though I would agree it's great that people can evolve and better themselves, the reason for their leaving should stand as an education process and be rectified. Which isn't the case.

But that's the point I want to make. Any one of thousands of hospital staff could have been where Florentina is now through NO fault of their own. One anaesthetist for 6 unconscious patients all undergoing surgery at the same time, all high dependency (as that's what one is when on ventilation under anaesthesia), one medical assistant/assistant chief of ITU for eleven high dependency new-borns.... The list is endless and I have read such horror stories of the same management ineptitude all over the country in the last twenty years that again, I repeat, YOU'RE BLAMING THE WRONG PERSON. If Florentina must be charged, then every member of the management plus the mayor, the minister of health and why not even Basescu and Boc (especially the latter), should have to serve time, too - with heavier sentences. Much heavier than Florentina Carstea.

Maybe the mantra 'there but for the grace of God go I' added with a little more compassion and empathy would do a lot of good in Roumania right now. Shame on the media, shame on the dung-flinging and shame on hypocrisy.

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