Thessaloniki: Compensation of 520,000 euros to parents for the tragic mistake that occurred when their baby was born

The delay was 22 years. Parents were justified in a long battle. Their child was crippled because of a big mistake made after his birth… Their child was born healthy in Thessaloniki, but today he is disabled. Cause a problem that was not diagnosed in time. Although subjected to mandatory tests carried out on all newborns for the detection of metabolic diseases by taking blood from the heel, the sample was delayed to be sent to check. This resulted in the sample being altered and the result of showing that the child does not suffer from a disease. If everything had been done as it should, the problem would have been solved with the necessary diet. She was entitled after 22 years to a family who, due to medical error in the hospital and the health institute, is raising her child with mental and physical disability. The Court of First Instance of Thessaloniki provides for compensation of 520,000 euros to parents and opens the way for countless similar cases that starve in anticipation of justice. A few days after the court’s decision, his mother -22-year-old today – girl and family lawyer Nikos Solynas talk about the perennial and delayed court struggle in which they were served, until the justification for the mistake he took from the child, a life without disabilities. The medical error occurred in 2001, when the child was born in a clinic in Thessaloniki and no diagnosis of the phenylketonuria from which he suffered. Although submitted to the mandatory tests performed on all newborns for detection of metabolic diseases by taking blood from the heel, the sample was delayed to be sent to the clinic at the health institute. Instead of being sent within 48 hours, as the law states, it was sent after 22 whole days, resulting in a deterioration and the result of showing that the child does not suffer from a disease. In fact, phenylketonuria is a disease that yields itself, without any treatment, but with a milkless diet for three weeks. And in this case, because of the nondiagnosing, the baby was fed normally with milk and quickly became disabled physically and mentally. In a testimony of a soul about the full life barriers of the child and of the family that since 2012 have been entering and entering courtrooms, the mother reports to thestoday.gr: “we are talking about a human life that has been proved destroyed by medical error. Why should it not be solved in 2-3 years and solved in 17 while we are in Europe?”, while expressing its desire, their own conclusion, to be the first of many to find justice. As the mother describes, the signs began when her daughter was only a few months old, while they gradually evolved to physical disability and to heavy mental retardation. “My child has heavy autism, an intelligence network under 30 and self-traumatic and aggressive behavior. She has no way of expressing herself, she has no reason, but when you’re familiar with her and you look at her, you know what she needs, she’s communicative but she needs help 24/7. At 16 she lost her light and found it again after great inconvenience,” she notes. Analyzing the legal route of the case, the lawyer of the family Nikos Solynas explains that although they filed two lawsuits,—one in 2012 and one in 2015—the case was moving… noting, as doctors appointed by the court as experts, were disavowing each other for four whole years. “Multiple waivers delay the process and require extra time and money, suffering the parties,” he explains. With the case being cremated due to multiple waivers, the criminalist made a call to the court to get to the essence of the case, with the decision to be issued in March 2024, setting a financial compensation of EUR 520,000 to the family by the clinic and health institute.