Hoang Cong Luong was sentenced to 42 months in prison.

On the afternoon of January 30, the People's Court of Hoa Binh read the verdict on 7 defendants involved in the dialysis incident that killed 9 people at Hoa Binh General Hospital. From nearly 2:00 p.m., hundreds of doctors and residents completed procedures to follow the trial.

Before the court announced the verdict, defendant Hoang Cong Luong (former doctor at Hoa Binh General Hospital) said he believed the panel of judges would have a truly fair and objective verdict.

After nearly 3 hours of reading the verdict, Hoa Binh City People's Court sentenced Hoang Cong Luong to 42 months in prison for his crime.Involuntary manslaughter. For the same crime, Bui Manh Quoc (director of Tram Anh company) was sentenced to 54 months in prison.

The 5 defendants include: Truong Quy Duong (former director of Hoa Binh hospital) received 30 months in prison, Tran Van Thang (former head of the supplies department) was sentenced to 36 months in prison, Hoang Dinh Khieu (former deputy director of Hoa Binh hospital) was sentenced to 36 months in prison, Tran Van Son (former officer of the supplies department) was sentenced to 42 months in prison, Do Anh Tuan (former director of Thien Son company) received 30 months in prison for the same crime.Lack of responsibility causes serious consequences.

Negligent medical staff

The verdict stated sufficient grounds to affirm that the leadership of Hoa Binh General Hospital had for a long time been lax in management, causing staff to be negligent when performing dialysis for patients.

When repairing the RO system, Quoc arbitrarily used HF and HCL chemicals that are not used in medicine to flush the system, resulting in a large amount of chemical residue. On May 29, 2017, before the repair was completed, the hospital put the machine into use but Quoc did not stop it. This caused 18 patients undergoing hemodialysis that day to have problems: 9 died, 9 had their health affected.

The Hoa Binh People's Court stated that as a licensed physician and trained in artificial kidney expertise, Luong was assigned professional responsibility by the leadership in the artificial kidney unit. According to the regulations of the dialysis department, he was not responsible for the water source but was required to clearly understand the importance of water in dialysis. Luong knew about the repair of the RO system No. 2, but before anyone handed it over, he did not know whether the water system was safe or not, but only heard the nurse inform him that Luong had put the system into dialysis. The panel concluded that Luong was "careless, worked out of habit and was confident in his own experience".

According to the verdict, defendant Truong Quy Duong (former director of Hoa Binh General Hospital) must be responsible for all activities of the hospital. Mr. Duong signed the decision to establish the artificial kidney unit and signed contracts to connect dialysis machines and repair the system, but did not arrange engineers and technicians and neglected management for a long time. Knowing that Thien Son Company did not take water samples for testing after the repair, Mr. Duong still signed the contract termination to complete the procedure. "The defendant's lack of responsibility is one of the causes of the medical incident," the verdict stated.

Defendant Hoang Dinh Khieu (former deputy director in charge of the supplies department and concurrently head of the intensive care unit) was determined to have not assigned anyone to manage the RO system and not arranged for staff to perform the duties of engineers and technicians responsible for the water source. As a result, no one checked the quality of the water source before, during, and after dialysis. Mr. Khieu had been lax in management for a long time, allowing staff in the unit to use it arbitrarily.

Defendant Do Anh Tuan (director of Thien Son Company) directly signed the contract to install and repair RO system No. 2 with the hospital, so both parties had a common responsibility in treating patients. Defendant Tuan knew that the hospital often put the system into use without water test results, but did not remind him. When receiving the contract to repair the RO system, Tuan often left Quoc to do it himself...

Regarding civil compensation, the verdict ordered Hoa Binh General Hospital and Thien Son Company to jointly compensate each family of the deceased victim 200 million VND, and each person affected by health problems 50 million VND. Of which, the hospital will pay 70%.

The panel of judges recommended that the Hoa Binh Department of Health increase inspection of medical equipment and increase human resource allocation to ensure medical examination and treatment for the people. Hoa Binh General Hospital must review the management of medical equipment and increase inspection of departments to determine personnel positions.

The Court found that there were signs of missing criminals during the investigation phase, so it was necessary to initiate a case to investigate the irresponsible behavior that occurred at Hoa Binh General Hospital; recommending that the same-level People's Procuracy prosecute Mr. Hoang Cong Tinh (Deputy Head of the Intensive Care Department).

During the 11-day trial (January 14-25), Luong presented very little and let 10 lawyers "exonerate" him. The defendant maintained his right to remain silent three times. Luong argued that he was only a treating doctor and had no responsibility to check the water source for dialysis.

The People's Procuracy proposed that the People's Court of Hoa Binh City sentence Luong to 36-42 months in prison; Bui Manh Quoc (director of Tram Anh company, the person who repaired the water filtration system) to 4-5 years in prison for the crime.Involuntary manslaughter.

In the crime groupLack of responsibility causes serious consequences, Tran Van Son (former officer of the supplies department) was proposed to be sentenced to 42 to 48 months in prison, Tran Van Thang (former head of the supplies department) 36-42 months, Truong Quy Duong (former hospital director) 30-36 months, Hoang Dinh Khieu (former hospital deputy director) 36-42 months in prison and Do Anh Tuan (Director of Thien Son Pharmaceutical Joint Stock Company) 36-42 months.

Pham Du