ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — When Burcu Gokdeniz gave birth to her son Umut Ali 1.5 months prematurely, she was initially relieved to see him appear healthy. However, medical staff quickly whisked him away to the neonatal intensive care unit, marking the last moment she would see her baby alive. Tragically, Gokdeniz learned that her son’s heart stopped after his condition unexpectedly worsened.
The devastating moment Gokdeniz encountered her baby wrapped in a shroud ten days after his birth has haunted her ever since. Speaking to The Associated Press, the 32-year-old e-commerce specialist described it as the “worst moment” of her life.
Gokdeniz is one of hundreds of grieving parents demanding a thorough investigation into the deaths of their newborns and loved ones, following allegations by Turkish prosecutors against 47 medical personnel, including doctors, nurses, and ambulance drivers, for negligence in the deaths of ten infants since last year.
In Turkey, healthcare is guaranteed for all citizens, encompassing both public and private institutions. The government reimburses private hospitals when the public healthcare system becomes overwhelmed, which has raised concerns about the quality of care in profit-driven facilities.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party, in power since 2002, has encouraged the growth of private healthcare to enhance access for the country’s 85 million citizens. However, the recent scandal surrounding the deaths of newborns has thrown a harsh spotlight on the for-profit healthcare sector, particularly regarding its treatment of the most vulnerable: infants.
Amidst the unfolding tragedy, the medical professionals involved have defended their actions, insisting they made the best possible choices in caring for extremely fragile patients, now facing potential criminal charges for tragic but unavoidable outcomes.
The anger among bereaved parents has eroded their trust in the healthcare system, prompting significant protests in October outside hospitals associated with the fatalities. Demonstrators voiced their outrage, expressing their need for accountability.
According to reports from the state-run Anadolu Agency, more than 350 families have reached out to prosecutors, the Health Ministry, or the president’s office, urging investigations into the deaths of their children.
The prosecution’s case
Prosecutors have indicted Dr. Firat Sari—the primary defendant accused of running the neonatal intensive care units in various Istanbul hospitals—demanding sentences of up to 583 years in prison. Charges include “establishing an organization for criminal activity,” “defrauding public institutions,” “forgery of official documents,” and “homicide by negligence.”
The evidence suggests widespread medical fraud for profit, although prosecutors have not disclosed the financial gains the accused allegedly made. This month’s indictment alleges the defendants forged records and placed newborns in private neonatal units that were ill-equipped and potentially unnecessary for their conditions.
Testimonies from nurses indicate that babies were sometimes transferred to understaffed hospitals lacking necessary equipment and medications. The indictment also claims that some medical workers withheld treatment or provided false information to parents to prolong hospital stays and exploit the social security system for financial gain, contributing to the tragic outcomes.
The indictment includes hundreds of pages of transcripts from audio recordings of conversations among medical staff. Though the recordings themselves remain undisclosed, one transcript depicts a nurse and a doctor discussing how to falsify hospital records, indicating mishandling of treatment.
In another instance, male nurse Hakan Dogukan Tasci criticized Dr. Sari for compromising patient care by not having an appropriate medical presence in the intensive care unit. Tasci also accused an ambulance driver involved in the scandal of making profit-driven decisions that endangered newborns’ lives.
Dr. Esin Koc, president of the Turkey Neonatology Association, voiced concerns in an interview with the Turkish newspaper BirGun. He stated private hospitals often lacked sufficient staffing and suggested previous inspections revealed significant deficiencies in them compared to public and university hospitals.
Years without a family, then a death
After undergoing years of fertility treatments, Ozan Eskici and his wife celebrated the birth of twins—a boy and a girl—in 2019 at one of the hospitals associated with Dr. Sari. While both babies seemed healthy initially, they were soon admitted to intensive care, leading to the girl’s discharge after 11 days but the boy’s death a week later.
Responding to questioning from prosecutors, Dr. Sari rejected allegations regarding inadequate care or understaffing, citing adherence to proper procedures as his defense.
This week, a court in Istanbul accepted the indictment and set a trial date for November 18. The case has seen increasing isolation for the defendants, with at least three of Sari’s attorneys withdrawing from the case. Additionally, authorities have seized licenses and shut down nine of the 19 implicated hospitals, including one linked to a former health minister.
In light of the scandal, opposition party leader Ozgur Ozel has called for the state to nationalize all involved hospitals. Meanwhile, President Erdogan has promised that those responsible for the deaths will face severe consequences, but he cautioned against assigning blame to the entire healthcare system.
“We will not allow our healthcare community to be tarnished due to a few rotten apples,” Erdogan stated, describing those implicated as “a gang devoid of humanity that exploited the system meant to deliver quality care to citizens.”
No more trust in the system
Reflecting on her experience, Gokdeniz noted that after giving birth in 2020, she initially trusted Dr. Sari and accepted her son’s death as a tragic loss until she encountered news reports highlighting the ongoing scandal.
“Everything started to make sense like a series of falling dominoes,” she explained.
Eskici, who once placed unwavering trust in Dr. Sari, now sees his assurances as heartbreaking deceptions. “The words he told me are etched in my mind like it happened yesterday,” he said.
Sibel Kosal, who lost her daughter Zeynep in a private hospital in 2017, is also grappling with shattered trust in the healthcare system while fearing for her surviving children’s safety. “They have devastated a mom and a dad,” she lamented.
Kosal urgently called on authorities to intervene, pleading, “Don’t let babies die, don’t let mothers cry. We want a livable world, one where our children are safe.”
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Badendieck reported from Hamburg, Germany.
