Security footage shows hospital stalled pregnant COVID-19 patient before her death
Security footage from Istanbul's Medipol Hospital showed that the institution stalled nine-months-pregnant Dönüş Kılınç and her husband while she visited the institution prior to her death. The footage also refuted testimony from the hospital that the woman had never visited them in person.
Hacı Bişkin / DUVAR
Security footage revealed that the Istanbul Medipol Hospital, previously owned by Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, had lied about a pregnant COVID-19 patient by saying that she had never visited the facility in person prior to her death.
The 32-year-old woman had tested positive for COVID-19 but was denied treatment by Medipol Hospital, which ultimately led to the nine-months-pregnant Dönüş Kılınç's death.
Medipol Hospital had been in charge of Kılınç's medical surveillance during all of her pregnancy, but refused to treat her for COVID-19 on the grounds that they were not a pandemic hospital: The woman was taken immediately into surgery at another hospital she went to, and her baby was saved.
Medipol Hospital claimed that Kılınç had never visited their hospital in person after Gazete Duvar reported on her death, but recent security footage refuted the official statement from the institution.
Footage shows the couple speaking to a security guard at the entrance and going into the Emergency room, only to leave moments later when none of the medical staff attends to them.
The gynecologist at Medipol University whom Kılınç visited seven times during her pregnancy said that they told her to go to a pandemic hospital after the woman reported she had tested positive for COVID-19.
The doctor also said that the Health Ministry was in charge of designating pandemic hospitals, but the Health Ministry had said that any hospital could qualify if they had intensive care units, and doctors from at least two out of three specialties: Infectious diseases, clinical microbiology, pulmonology and internal medicine.
Meanwhile, the Istanbul Provincial Health Directorate refuted the gynecologist's claim that they couldn't examine Kılınç because of her positive test result, noting that there are no regulations concerning Medipol Hospital that prevents the admission of COVID-19 patients to emergency rooms or clinics.
A hospital employee who saw Kılınç and her husband at the hospital confirmed in a statement that they had told the couple to go to a pandemic facility upon orders from their supervisors.