Anger over a gynecologist convicted of rape. “KBC angrily cut off communication”

Zlatko Topolovec, MD, specialist in gynecology and obstetrics, who was wrongfully convicted of raping a patient, is still working at KBC Osijek.

Angry citizens sent more than 2,000 emails

Everything caused outrage in the public, and an initiative was launched on social networks to send 1,000 emails in 24 hours to key institutions in healthcare with a request for the dismissal of Zlatko Topolovac. The total number of emails sent seems to have been exceeded by at least double.

According to the information that N1 received from the organizers, more than 2,000 emails have been sent to the addresses of the Ministry of Health, KBC Osijek, the Croatian Medical Chamber, HUBOL and the Association for the Protection of Patients’ Rights during the day.

"We came up with the idea of ​​the action because we were disgusted by the fact that there is a legal gap in the Croatian legal system that allows people who are tried for serious and sensitive crimes to remain in their jobs instead of being temporarily suspended, as in a large number of European countries, where the legal practice clear"they said from the initiative that operates under the anonymous profile on social networks @grofdarkula.

Hospital: The verdict is invalid, so we cannot apply any procedure against the doctor. Association: We proved to them that this is not true, so they got angry

The hospital confirmed that Zlatko Topolovec is still at his workplace.

"Since this is an invalid court decision, it is quite clear that Osijek Clinical Hospital Center as an employer was neither able nor able to apply any procedure to the named doctor"they said from KBC Osijek.

The Osijek association Adela also spoke out tonight, saying that they proved to KBC Osijek in direct communication that they had the tools to remove from the workplace a gynecologist who was convicted of rape in the first instance, but that they then angrily cut off communication from the hospital.

"Dear Sir/Madam, the Adela association received an angry response today in the morning, which made it clear to us that KBC will no longer communicate with us, even though we proved with the help of journalist Nataša Škaričić that they had the tools to remove a gynecologist convicted of rape in the first instance from his workplace. In relation to that case, the Ministry of Health today, in a statement to HRT, dissociated itself from the decisions of KBC Osijek, which it supported until yesterday, because, as they say, they are not familiar with the case.

We would like to hereby inform the public that the Health Inspection, the Ministry of Health, KBC Osijek and the Chamber have been regularly warned by us for half a year about the fact that the convicted gynecologist continues to work unhindered, for which we have written evidence that we provide you with screenshots and attachments .

On behalf of all women, we thank all the associations for the protection of human rights that decided to react from the bottom of our hearts today, because together we are stronger.

As before, the Adela association will continue to work on this case and we will not allow it to sink into oblivion as soon as the spotlight is turned off, just as we did not and will not allow it with the system failures in the case of the murder of Mihaela Berak, who was killed by a police officer with an official weapon"they said from the Association and attached screenshots of the correspondence with the hospital.

Ministry: We received a lot of emails, but the judgment is invalid

Earlier, the Ministry confirmed for N1 that they had received it "really a lot of e-mails related to the case of wrongfully convicted Dr. Topolovac" and that the Independent Sector for Healthcare Inspections at the Ministry of Health received information about the case and that the director of KBC Osijek was requested to make a statement in which "states that the named doctor was wrongfully convicted by the County Court in Osijek."

"The verdict is not binding at this time. According to the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, Article 28, it is prescribed that everyone is innocent and no one can be considered guilty of a criminal offense until proven guilty by a final court verdict. Also, the current provision of the Law on Health Care, Article 156, does not allow removal from the workplace without legal authority."they said.

"As a result of the invalidity of the verdict, the appointed doctor is still employed with KBC Osijek, but he performs tasks within his scope of work in the presence of a team member. A temporary measure of removal from the workplace could theoretically be ordered only by a court or chamber if it had a case under consideration, for which we have no official information"they said from Beros’ ministry.

The Commission of the Medical Chamber, as far as is known, is not taking any action so far.

Activist: Back in February, we asked the hospital about this case

Natalija Havelka from the Center for Peace, Nonviolence and Human Rights was a guest on Dnevnik N1 tonight. She said that they sent the first inquiry to the hospital back in February.

"Since February of this year, the Osijek associations gathered around the informal initiative Night March Osijek have sent an inquiry to the Osijek hospital as to what it has done in this specific case. They then replied that they were not familiar with the case and referred to the presumption of innocence"said Havelka and continued:

"After that, we came out at the Night March with a request that the Government of the Republic of Croatia amend the Law on Medicine and introduce provisions according to which a doctor who commits a criminal offense while on duty, and that criminal offense against sexual freedom as in this case, is removed from duty while the proceedings are ongoing . We haven’t received an answer yet."

All institutions – the Ministry of Health, the Croatian Medical Chamber (HLK) and the KBC – refer to the presumption of innocence. Are their hands really tied in this case?

"We believe that their hands are not tied, that they could have taken other actions to protect the rights of patients, especially the rights of patients in the future, and to prevent these cases"believes Havelka.

"We are asking for a change in the law"

She also referred to the amendment of the law that they are looking for. "Related to the amendment of the law in medicine, to be modeled on the amendment of the law in upbringing and education, where employees in educational institutions are removed from work if they have committed a criminal offense, that is, if criminal proceedings are being conducted for an offense against children."

"In addition, HLK could react and initiate disciplinary proceedings independently of criminal proceedings"she added them.

Havelka also commented on how the women in Osijek she talked to feel and whether they feel uncomfortable going to the hospital.

"In any case, it is, they feel unsafe and unprotected because the system does not protect women in the specific case, especially their exercise of the right to health care"she stated.