The defendant nurse's brazen response to the presiding judge's question, "Aren't you a baby killer?"

Newborn babies were transferred to the intensive care units of contracted private hospitals, resulting in unjust profits and causing their deaths due to negligent behavior by Fırat Sarı and İlker Gönen, among 47 defendants, 22 of whom are in custody, who appeared before the judge for the first time today. In the first hearing held in the 21st Heavy Criminal Court of Bakırköy Courthouse, nurse Hakan Doğukan Taşçı began to make his defense. Taşçı, who stated that he did not accept the charges against him, said, "If a patient is intubated for 3 days, SGK pays more money. Therefore, we were writing more intubations to get more money from SGK."

"I DO NOT ACCEPT THE CHARGES AGAINST ME"

Defendant Nurse Hakan Doğukan Taşçı stated in his defense, "I will make my defense. First of all, after I was arrested, I mentioned and accepted a couple of procedures I personally performed. I have answered all questions with my utmost honesty since the beginning of the investigation. The allegation that I requested medication without a doctor's order is not true, and I do not accept the requests either. I am a graduate of a health vocational high school and have been working in the neonatal unit for 10 years. I do not accept the charges against me. I started at the First Hospital. I worked there for 5-6 months, then I started at Florya Hospital, and then the arrest happened. Among the other defendants, since we are all in the healthcare sector, most of us know each other. There is even a WhatsApp group related to health. I know Can Polat Yıldırım from Reyap Hospital. I do not know Ceylan Çetin. I know Deniz Korkmaz; he is my friend. I know Fırat Sarı from Reyap Hospital. There are manipulations on documents to receive more money. These hospitals are audited every year. I have not earned a single penny extra. At night in the intensive care unit, the doctor is not present. When an emergency intervention is needed, we intervene. When we do not intervene, there are accusations in the file saying, 'How can you not intervene?'" he said.

HE EXPLAINED HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS

Responding to the questions of the presiding judge, the defendant nurse said, "The operation works like this; the hospital says, 'My intensive care revenue is 1 million TL, can you make it 1.5 million TL? If you increase my income by this much, I will give you this much commission.' In this way, agreements can be made with hospitals as a subcontractor. They work under a contract. I am a salaried employee of the hospital. I do not think anyone has formed an organization. No one knows about each other; everyone is complaining about each other, there is no common ground. I worked at the First Hospital for 6 months, and no baby died because of me. These hospitals pass audits very easily. The interesting part is this," he said.

AREN'T YOU A BABY KILLER?

Defendant nurse Hakan Doğukan Taşçı responded to the presiding judge's question, 'Aren't you a baby killer?' as follows:

"Why are we the ones arrested and not the hospital owners? Why is there no intervention while baby deaths occur? My psychology has deteriorated because of the news; I have been labeled as a 'baby killer.'