Greek singer Giorgos Mazonakis died while undergoing a plasma-exchange procedure at a private clinic in central Athens, according to senior prosecutorial sources, as authorities investigate whether he should instead have been sent to a hospital.
Two doctors who operate the Stem Cell Clinic in Kolonaki, an upscale Athens district, were arrested Thursday evening in connection with the singer’s death. Prosecutors have opened a felony case related to fatal exposure to danger.
The doctors haven’t been convicted of wrongdoing, and the precise medical cause and circumstances of Mazonakis’s death remain under investigation.
ΔΙΑΒΑΣΤΕ ΕΠΙΣΗΣ
Senior prosecutorial sources told Dnews that evidence gathered so far indicated that Mazonakis wasn’t feeling well when he arrived at the clinic.
Rather than directing him to a hospital, the sources said, the doctors proceeded with plasmapheresis, a procedure in which plasma is separated from a patient’s blood and replaced or treated before the blood is returned to the body.
“Mazonakis died in their hands,” one senior prosecutorial source told Dnews.
According to the same sources, investigators believe the singer died while the plasmapheresis procedure was under way and that the clinic was unable to manage the complications that developed.
The investigation has focused heavily on two pieces of evidence: the time Mazonakis arrived at the clinic and data concerning the operation of the plasmapheresis machine.
Security-camera footage showed Mazonakis entering the clinic on Karneadou Street in Kolonaki at about 1:30 p.m., according to information gathered by investigators.
That finding is considered significant because it appears to conflict with an account that the singer arrived at around 4 p.m. A doctor had also testified that the plasmapheresis procedure hadn’t started when Mazonakis suffered cardiac arrest.
Investigators examining the clinic, however, found evidence indicating that the machine used for the procedure had been operating for almost 45 minutes.
Authorities are now seeking to establish a detailed timeline covering the period between Mazonakis’s arrival at the clinic, the start of the procedure, his collapse and the arrival of Greece’s emergency medical service, known as EKAB.
Police also took testimony Thursday from a specialist hematologist at a public hospital. Investigators asked the physician to explain how plasmapheresis is performed, its potential risks and complications and what medical facilities are required to conduct it safely.
A key issue is whether such treatment can appropriately be performed in a private medical office or whether it requires a hospital environment with specialized equipment and the ability to respond immediately to potentially life-threatening complications.
Investigators also sought the hematologist’s assessment of what medical and technical support should be available if a patient suddenly deteriorates during the procedure.
After prosecutors evaluated the evidence, authorities authorized the arrests of the two doctors shortly after 7 p.m. Thursday, according to Dnews. They are expected to appear before an investigating magistrate Friday.
An autopsy on Mazonakis, initially planned for Thursday, has meanwhile been postponed until Friday, Sept. 11, after his family requested time to appoint an independent technical adviser who will attend the examination.
The autopsy is expected to be central to determining the cause of death and whether there was a medical connection between the plasma-exchange procedure, any complications that developed and Mazonakis’s death.
