Surgeons Accidentally Set Cancer Patient On Fire During Operation In Romania

A 66-year-old woman undergoing surgery for pancreatic cancer was accidentally set on fire, when doctors used an alcohol-based disinfectant, resulting to her death.

According to BBC, the unidentified woman died a week after she was seriously burned in the botched procedure, which took place on December 22, 2019.

The woman was undergoing an operation at Floreasca Hospital in Romania when surgeons started using an electric scalpel, and it came in contact with the alcohol, sparking a fire.

she caught on fire and suffered burns to 40% of her body, the BBC says.

She passed away at the hospital Sunday and police are probing her death, Romanian outlets reported.

The woman’s family told local media that hospital officials only informed them that “an accident” had occurred — but never elaborated or explained the “gravity of the situation.”

“We found out some details from the press, when they were broadcast on TV stations,” the family said. “We aren’t making accusations, we just want to understand what happened.”

The country’s health minister, Victor Costache, also pledged to investigate the case, calling it “traumatic.”

“We hope to learn from this troubling episode,” he said in a statement obtained by the BBC. “Both myself and the Ministry of Health team that I coordinate will do everything possible to find out the truth.”

“The surgeons should have been aware that it is prohibited to use an alcohol-based disinfectant during surgical procedures performed with an electric scalpel,” Deputy Health Minister Horatiu Moldovan added.