Ecthr Unanimously Finds Turkey Guilty In Baby's Death

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) unanimously found on Tuesday that there had been a violation of the right to life and that the Turkish judicial system had responded poorly in the case of Asiye Genç v. Turkey.

The ECtHR stated in a press release that there had been a violation of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which protects the right to life. The ECtHR also stated, “The Turkish judicial system's response to the tragedy had not been appropriate for the purposes of shedding light on the exact circumstances of the child's death.”

The ECtHR explained that it also found the state guilty of the death of the newborn infant because of insufficient organization and services at the public hospital involved, explaining that care providers refused to provide medical treatment altogether.

Genç went into labor and gave birth to a son who was born prematurely via caesarean section on March 30, 2005. Shortly after birth, the baby began to experience difficulty breathing. The doctors at Gümüşhane State Hospital decided to transfer the baby to the Black Sea Technical University's (KTÜ) Farabi Hospital, 110 kilometers away. The doctors later gave the explanation that they did not have a suitable neonatal unit at Gümüşhane.

Upon arriving at KTÜ Farabi Hospital at around 1:15 a.m. on April 1, the hospital refused to admit the infant because they claimed there was no space in their own neonatal intensive care unit. Nearly an hour later, the newborn was transferred to the Medical-Surgical and Obstetrics Center, where, once again, the infant was refused care due to -- according to the doctor on duty -- a lack of incubators. The doctor then transferred the infant back to KTÜ Farabi, where doctors again refused to admit the baby due to a lack of space in the neonatal unit. The Genç baby subsequently died.

The ECtHR report states: “On 6 April 2005 Mr. and Mrs. Genç filed a criminal complaint and two investigations were opened. The criminal investigation against the medical staff was discontinued and the administrative investigation initiated by the Ministry of Health was closed on the grounds that there was no case to answer, as no fault had been committed by the staff.”

The ECtHR decided that Turkey is to pay the applicant 65,000 euros in non-pecuniary damages.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)