The death of 10 newborns has undermined the trust of millions in Turkey’s health care system.

ANKARA, Türkiye — The mother thought her baby looked healthy when he was born 1.5 months early, but staff rushed him to the neonatal intensive care unit.

This was the last time Burcu Gekdeniz saw her child alive. The attending physician told her that Umut Ali’s heart stopped after his health suddenly deteriorated.

Seeing her son wrapped in a shroud 10 days after his birth was the “worst moment” of her life, the 32-year-old e-commerce specialist told The Associated Press.

Gokdeniz is among hundreds of parents who have come forward to demand an investigation into the deaths of their children or other loved ones as Turkish prosecutors charged 47 doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers and other medical workers with neglect or negligence in the deaths of 10 newborns since last year. year.

Health workers say they made the best decisions while caring for some of the most delicate patients imaginable, and face criminal penalties for undesirable results.

Frustrated parents say they have lost trust in the system, and the cases have caused so much outrage that in October demonstrators staged protests outside hospitals where some of the deaths occurred, throwing rocks at buildings.

Prosecutors did not specify how much the defendants allegedly earned. Since the scandal broke, at least 350 families have asked prosecutors, the health ministry and the presidential office to investigate the deaths of their loved ones, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Prosecutors are seeking up to 583 years in prison for the main defendant, Dr. Firat Sari, who ran neonatal intensive care units at several hospitals in Istanbul. Sari is accused of “creating an organization for the purpose of committing a crime,” “fraud of government agencies,” “forgery of official documents,” and “negligent homicide.”

Prosecutors say the evidence clearly shows medical fraud for profit. The indictment unsealed this month accuses the defendants of falsifying records and placing patients in the neonatal care units of some private hospitals for lengthy and sometimes unnecessary treatment in facilities unprepared to treat them.

Türkiye guarantees health care to all citizens, and its public health system reimburses private hospitals that treat eligible patients. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party, in power since 2002, advocates expanding private health care to improve access in the country of 85 million people.

After several years of infertility treatment, Ozan Eskici and his wife gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, in 2019 at one of the Sari hospitals. Although the babies initially appeared healthy, both were admitted to intensive care. The girl was discharged after 11 days, and the boy died after 24 days.

According to the 1,400-page indictment, when questioned by prosecutors, Sari denied allegations that the babies were not given proper care, that the neonatal units were understaffed or that his staff were not properly qualified.

He told prosecutors: “Everything is in accordance with procedures.”

This week, a court in Istanbul approved an indictment that includes hundreds of pages of transcripts of secretly taped phone calls between the suspects, and set a trial date of November 18.

The way the case horrified the nation led to further isolation of the accused.

Lawyer Ali Karaoglan said he and two other lawyers who represented Sari during the investigation recently withdrew from the case. Authorities have since revoked licenses and closed nine of the 19 hospitals implicated in the scandal, including one owned by a former health minister.

The scandal prompted the leader of the main opposition party, Ozgur Ozel, to call for a state takeover and nationalization of all hospitals involved. Erdogan said those responsible for the deaths would be severely punished, but warned against placing all the blame on the country’s health care system.

“We will not allow our healthcare community to be beaten because of a few rotten apples,” Erdogan said, calling the alleged culprits “a gang of people devoid of humanity.”

“This gang… committed such heinous atrocities by taking advantage of the opportunities provided by our state to provide citizens with better and more affordable health care,” Erdogan said.

He added: “Those who commit such barbarity will be held accountable to the strictest extent of the law for their crimes. As President, I will continue to personally monitor this matter to ensure that these murderers who played with the lives of innocent babies for financial gain never see the light of day again.”

Gökdeniz, who gave birth in 2020, said she trusted Sari and accepted her son’s death as natural until she saw the scandal unfold on television news and social media.

“Everything started falling into place like dominoes,” she said.

Eskichi also completely trusted Sari, whose assurances he now considers a cruel deception.

“The sentences he told me stand before my eyes as if they were yesterday,” he said.

Sibel Kosal, who lost her baby daughter Zeynep in a private hospital in 2017, is also searching for answers. She says the scandal has undermined her trust in the health care system and left her constantly fearful for her surviving children.

“They destroyed mom and dad,” she said.

Kosal called on the authorities to take immediate action.

“Don’t let children die, don’t let mothers cry,” she said. “We want to live in a livable world where our children are safe.”

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Badendick reported from Hamburg, Germany.