Mazonakis death: Doctors allegedly ignored repeated alarms – What they will say in their defense statements

Doctors Ioanna Gaka and Ilias Theodoropoulos, at whose medical practice Giorgos Mazonakis suffered cardiac arrest, are expected to appear before the investigating judge on Tuesday morning (15/9).

Just hours after the final farewell to the beloved singer, the Greek judicial authorities moved to upgrade the charges against the two doctors. Following the new criminal prosecution brought by the Athens Prosecutor’s Office, the couple now face charges of intentional homicide under the doctrine of dolus eventualis, or conditional intent.

According to reports, the development was also prompted by new evidence submitted by the Hellenic Police, mainly reports concerning digital evidence collected during inspections, and in particular the report on the plasmapheresis machine, which recorded data relating to Giorgos Mazonakis’ treatment.

The 32nd Regular Investigating Judge concluded that sufficient evidence had been gathered to justify upgrading the charge from exposure resulting in death, and the defendants requested and were granted a new deadline to give their defense statements on Tuesday morning.

According to information reported by MEGA, neither the two doctors nor their lawyers wished to comment on the developments in the case during the five hours they spent before the investigating judge.

The same source reports that the defendants have prepared lengthy written defense submissions, which they are expected to file before their questioning begins.

Ilias Theodoropoulos is reportedly maintaining that he had no involvement in the specific incident and that he was called by his wife to assist only after 4 p.m. For this reason, two witnesses also appeared before the investigating judge today: the medical practice’s secretary and one of his patients.

Ioanna Gaka, meanwhile, is reportedly attributing gaps and inconsistencies in her account to the panic of the moment and, in any case, maintains that she had no criminal intent in the way she handled the incident.

The evidence that led to the charges being upgraded

According to MEGA, the judicial authorities handling the case have spoken of unprecedented criminal acts and omissions by the two doctors.

As to what prompted the upgrade of the charges, two facts are said to be undisputed:

The first is that Giorgos Mazonakis lost his life while connected to the plasmapheresis machine. This emerges from evidence sent by the Hellenic Police to the investigating authorities. According to that material, both the time the machine was started and operated, as well as its first warning, were recorded. Regarding the latter, reports indicate that just 11 minutes after the treatment began, the plasmapheresis machine issued its first indication that something was not proceeding normally. The alarm was recorded and acknowledged by the operator, but the procedure continued.

The second is that the ambulance service was called almost two hours later and, in the meantime, the two doctors did everything they could to conceal their own responsibility, despite allegedly knowing that what they were doing was illegal.
According to MEGA, the upgrading of the charges opens the way for pre-trial detention, while the doctors, if convicted, could face a sentence of up to life imprisonment.

What the plasmapheresis machine recorded

Data recovered from the machine’s recording system — documenting in detail its operation, the repeated alarms and the attempts made to restart it — were reported by Kathimerini.

At 14:14:10, the system records the indication “transition to treatment”, while at 14:14:42 the indication “treatment start” appears. This, however, does not mean that blood circulation and exchange through the machine had already begun, but rather that the relevant process had been activated.

At 14:25:32, just 10 minutes and 50 seconds later, the first alarm was recorded with the indication “Alarm 9”. This is a warning that venous pressure has exceeded the upper preset limit. Such a warning may be associated either with a change in the patient’s blood pressure or with a technical problem.

Immediately after the first alarm, a record appears showing that it was acknowledged, indicating that the operator had noticed the warning. A second “Alarm 9” followed and was again acknowledged, but the procedure was not stopped.

At 14:37:46, the main plasmapheresis process began, namely the circulation and exchange of blood through the machine. The material examined also includes two photographs taken at 14:44 and 14:45.

At 15:22, another alarm was recorded and the treatment stopped, as the patient ceased providing blood through the intravenous catheter. Investigators are examining this as a possible indication that he suffered cardiac arrest at that time, although the exact time of the arrest cannot be established solely on the basis of the machine’s recording system.

At 15:23, another alarm was recorded, while by 15:45 two more had been registered, even though the machine had ceased operating. At the same time, attempts were made to restart the blood circulation process, but the restart was unsuccessful and the machine automatically shut down.

For approximately 91 minutes, from the start of the treatment until the machine stopped operating altogether, the recording system registered a succession of alerts and alarms. According to Kathimerini, all of them appear to have been ignored.

Numerous complaints

It should also be noted that, apart from the investigation into the circumstances surrounding Giorgos Mazonakis’ death, numerous complaints have appeared online concerning the hopes allegedly offered by the two doctors through their alternative treatments, as well as alleged attempts to establish partnerships with hotel owners and travel agents on islands in the Cyclades in order to gain access to “celebrities” and promote those treatments to them.

None of this, of course, forms part of the current preliminary investigation, but it could at a later stage prompt a new prosecutorial order to investigate this aspect of the case as a possible fraud against patients.