The trial of the Newborn Gang, involving 47 defendants, begins on November 18th.

A probe into the 'Newborn Gang', which provided unfair profits by transferring babies to contracted hospitals and caused their deaths through negligent behavior, has been completed and an indictment has been prepared. The indictment examined by the Bakırköy 22nd High Criminal Court has been accepted. The trial of a total of 47 defendants, 22 of whom are in custody, will begin on November 18.

The indictment prepared by the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor's Office mentions 47 defendants and 19 healthcare institutions, stating that 10 babies lost their lives. It was revealed in the indictment that the main aim of the criminal organization led by Fırat Sarı, managed by İlker Gönen and Gıyasettin Mert Özdemir, was to ensure the occupancy of the neonatal intensive care units they took over by circumventing the 112 transfer system, and to receive maximum payments from SGK by manipulating the patients' levels.

HIGH FEES COLLECTED FROM SGK

The indictment states that the gang committed document forgery by misrepresenting the patients' current conditions in paperwork (e.g., representing intubated patients as non-intubated, and vice versa, and reporting unused medications as used), and that they obtained high fees from SGK by showing the patients' conditions as more severe than they actually were, allowing for longer hospital stays, and also profiting from extra charges taken from some patients' relatives.

It was noted in the prepared indictment that most of the suspects are healthcare workers and that these workers also received a share of the profits. The indictment indicated that instead of transferring baby patients to hospitals that would provide appropriate healthcare services due to the circumvention of the 112 transfer system, the suspects admitted them to hospitals they deemed profitable on behalf of the organization, emphasizing that the goal was not to improve the health of the babies but to maximize financial gain. It was also recorded in the indictment that admitting babies to neonatal intensive care units, which are open to all kinds of infections, led to infections in some babies and even death in others.

HEALTHCARE SERVICES PROVIDED DIRECTLY BY NURSES

The suspects were found to have illegally sold medications such as currosurf and infasurf, obtaining financial gains by removing them from the hospital. It was noted that due to the transfer of operations in violation of the Private Hospitals Regulation, the Newborn Criminal Organization led by Fırat Sarı attempted to provide services to many hospitals with a limited number of doctors, resulting in healthcare services being provided directly by nurses and even nurse assistants, which consequently increased the number of infant deaths. The indictment also stated that nurses introduced themselves as doctors, some suspects filled neonatal intensive care units beyond capacity, and that inappropriate and factually incorrect epicrisis reports were written by nurses.

MANIPULATION OF TEMPLATE PATIENT VALUES

In the digital materials examined during the investigation, it was recorded that the suspects had template patient values such as "bad patient values, good patient values" and often categorized babies as good or bad based on their observations without conducting any actual tests or analyses regarding the patients' blood gas, blood values, or whether they had infections, and that they wrote their reports as templates from a centralized source outside the hospital. As a result, there were uncertainties regarding which treatment should be applied to which baby, leading to irreparable consequences, including the loss of babies' lives.

RESUSCITATION SUPPORT NOT APPLIED

According to the opinions received from a team of experts consisting of specialists in neonatology assigned by the Ministry of Health's Inspection Board to examine and report on the activities of the relevant hospitals and the criminal organization regarding infant deaths, it was determined that there were medical impossibilities in the hospitals, lack of early diagnosis and treatment, absence of direct physician supervision, failure to conduct necessary tests and analyses, discontinuation of life-saving medications, acceptance of patients as third-level despite not being a third-level facility, doctors not taking responsibility for the clinical follow-up and treatment of patients, concealment of causes of death by doctors, and that due to the lack of sufficient energy and protein support, patients suffered from malnutrition because lipids, multivitamins, phosphorus, and magnesium supplements were not provided in TPN fluids, adrenaline was not used despite the baby's heart dropping, patients were kept in the hospital for extended periods without being transferred to appropriate centers, negligence in the preparation and storage of medications, lack of protein and lipid support for patients, failure to administer necessary medications appropriately, and inadequate resuscitation support being applied in terms of form and duration, and the preparation of fake patient files, and the application of passive euthanasia to patients, which resulted in the deprivation of newborn babies' right to life.

''REDUCE TPN CONSUMPTION'' INSTRUCTION

The indictment also mentioned that while some babies should have gained weight after entering intensive care, they instead experienced significant weight loss, and that the Newborn Criminal Organization and the hospital administrations assisting the organization failed to provide sufficient nutrition to the babies solely to reduce expenses and obtain financial benefits, with instructions such as "reduce TPN consumption" found in the tapes. In the indictment, it was requested that defendants Fırat Sarı and İlker Gönen be sentenced to a total of 177 years and 6 months to 582 years and 9 months in prison for 'causing death by negligence' 10 times, 'qualified fraud', 'establishing an organization for the purpose of committing a crime', and 11 times 'forgery of official documents'. For defendant Gıyasettin Mert Özdemir, a sentence of 180 years to 589 years and 9 months in prison was requested for 'causing death by negligence', 'unlawfully obtaining personal data', 'fraud to the detriment of public institutions and organizations', 'establishing an organization for the purpose of committing a crime', and 'forgery of official documents'. Similar prison sentences were requested for other defendants for related crimes.

REQUESTED SENTENCES

The indictment requests life imprisonment and prison sentences of up to 582 years and 9 months to be applied 11 times for the 47 suspects.