The calendar read 29 January, it was the fateful day when little Georgina passed away. One of the nurses of the hospital "Aglaia Kyriakou" noticed Roula Pispirigou walking towards the nursing office as if she was looking for a nurse. The way she was walking and the fact that she was not calling for help gave the nurse the impression that she was asking for a sheet or something else.
The 33-year-old defendant approached the nurse and said something in a low voice that she did not hear and did not understand. When the nurse realized that the child was having another episode, she informed the doctor on duty and within seconds they were in the child's ward. Upon entering the ward, they saw the 9-year-old had developed cyanosis and was apnoeic. At that time, both the doctor and the nurse noticed that the oximeter attached to the child was not audible. In particular, the characteristic sound produced by this medical instrument when the pulse rate drops was not audible. The child was intubated again but shortly afterwards at 15.50 he died.
These are the last moments before the death of 9-year-old Georgina, the eldest child of the family, in whose body a large amount of ketamine was found.
The evidence that completes the frame-by-frame puzzle of the death of the 9-year-old girl in the hospital "Aglaia Kyriakou" on January 29 is horrifying and is reflected in the massive file that has been formed for the case.
As the massive file of the case shows, none of the doctors and nurses administered ketamine to the child. The mother was always present and close to the 9-year-old girl.
The central figure of this unprecedented criminal act is Roula Pispirigou, who is now being prosecuted for manslaughter with intent against her daughter and on Monday she will appear before the 18th investigating judge for this offence.
On Thursday, the 33-year-old was taken, under draconian security measures, to the courts of the former Evelpidon school. Silent and with her head bowed, she passed first through the door of the prosecutor's office and then the interrogator, from whom she was given a deadline to prepare herself. People in the courtroom were shouting at her: "Confess to redeem yourself bitch", "Why did you do it?", "Stoning to the end", "Shame on you."
The evidence contained in the case file - which is about two boxes - is reflected in detail in the forwarding document of the police authorities and is truly shocking. Whenever 33-year-old Roula Pispirigou accompanied her daughter to a public hospital, she always asked for a single room and asked if there were cameras in it ostensibly to know if she could safely leave her belongings without risk of theft.
The child, according to the case file, from April 2021 until the day she died on January 29, 2022, had nine episodes, which were sudden and for which there was no medical explanation. They all took place in public hospitals - not in ICU wards - namely the Aglaia Kyriakou Children's Hospital and a public hospital in Patras. But what is shocking is that Roula Pispirigou said to the doctors the day before her daughter ended up: "These episodes you saw are nothing. The big episode hasn't made it yet." In fact, she had even informed them that she knows how to administer the medication to the child via gastrostomy!
The sudden episodes
According to what is stated in the transmittal document of the case file, the unexplained and sudden episodes in the 9-year-old girl, begin to make their appearance on April 8, 2021, which is about 20 days after the death of the other child of the family, just six months old Iris, who passed away on March 21 of the same year.
As part of the investigation launched into the circumstances of 9-year-old Georgina's death, medical records were requested from hospitals where the child had been admitted for hospitalization on the grounds that on April 8, 2021, she experienced "frightening convulsive movements of the limbs" in her sleep. In the days that followed, other various episodes were reported that the child was experiencing, nine in total, which were treated by the doctors.
However, these episodes were characterized as sudden and even in two of them the pacemaker was activated. In fact, on January 21, 2022, the little girl was admitted to the ICU at the Patras Hospital, where she stayed for 12 hours. She was then returned to a Pediatric Clinic. However, after 24 hours, the child experienced four more episodes of short duration, which subsided. The child was re-admitted to the ICU, where he stayed for 36 hours. Subsequently, the little girl was transferred back to the paediatric clinic of the Patras hospital and after 24 hours she developed a new episode, with apnoea, desaturation, cyanosis and bradycardia. The little girl was re-admitted to the ICU and stayed there for 24 hours with no symptoms. On 26 January, it was decided to transfer the child to the "Aglaia Kyriakou" Children's Hospital in order to investigate these episodes.
During the first 24 hours of her hospitalisation at the "Aglaia Kyriakou" hospital, little Georgina did not have any episodes. However, in the second 24 hours the picture changed again. The little girl again presents an episode of a total duration of 3 1/5 minutes, an episode that the doctors treated. However, from January 28 to January 29, according to the case file, the 9-year-old girl continuously exhibits such episodes of short duration. Ultimately, on January 29, 2022, the 9-year-old experienced episodes of apnea and was again admitted to the ICU. She was intubated but shortly afterwards on the same day she lost the battle for life.
The critical moments
The transmittal document makes extensive reference to the critical minutes before and after the child's death and the evidence provided outlines the 33-year-old woman's behaviour, which cannot only refer to a mother who loses her child.
In particular, shortly before 2.30 on January 29, one of the nurses of the hospital "Aglaia Kyriakou" noticed Roula Pispirigou approaching walking towards the nursing office as if she was looking for a nurse. The way she was walking and the fact that she was not calling for help gave the nurse the impression that she was going to ask for a sheet or something else. The 33-year-old defendant approached the nurse and said something in a low voice that she did not hear or understand. When the nurse realized that the child was having another episode, she informed the doctor on duty and within seconds they were in the child's ward. Upon entering the ward, they saw the 9-year-old had developed cyanosis and was apnoeic. At that time, both the doctor and the nurse noticed that the oximeter attached to the child was not audible. In particular, the characteristic sound produced by this medical instrument when the pulse rate drops was not audible. The child was intubated again but died shortly afterwards at 15.50.
She asked for a single room, asked for cameras
It is worth noting that the transmittal document of the case file states that when little Georgina was transferred again to "Aglaia Kyriakou" Roula Pispirigou, according to the statements of witnesses, asked the doctor on duty to stay in a single room with her daughter. The girl's father was in the room only on the first night of the girl's stay in the room and thereafter her mother was alone with her the whole of the following period. The sudden episodes in the child began to manifest themselves after the father's departure. When the last episode occurred, the 33-year-old woman was calm - according to the case file - and this despite the fact that she saw the doctors' desperate efforts to save the child.
The case file also states that some of the drugs administered to the child were intravenous and some were administered by a gastrostomy that was used to feed the child. In fact, the 33-year-old woman told the doctors and nursing staff that she knew how to administer the drugs from the gastrostomy and that is why it was decided to give them to her child herself. However, when the child developed new episodes from 26 January onwards, the nursing staff were instructed to stop the mother from administering the drugs and the drugs were administered to the 9-year-old exclusively by a nurse. In fact, the case file states that on January 27, 2022, the girl's father left the hospital and only the mother remained until the child's death.
Ketamine
As the voluminous case file shows, none of the doctors and nurses administered ketamine to the child. The mother was present and close to the 9-year-old at all times. On January 28, the day before the child died, the mother told doctors: "These episodes you have seen are nothing. The big episode hasn't made it yet." In short, ... she predicted the big episode that her daughter was going to manifest and which eventually happened and led to her death. These words made a sensation to the doctors, as from the data they had nothing foreshadowed a major episode.
It is worth noting that the entire nursing and medical staff of both the "Aglaia Kyriakou" Children's Hospital and the "Onassis Hospital", where little Georgina had also been treated months before her death, were examined as part of the investigation. There, no episode of dangerous tachycardia was recorded and the normal functioning of the defibrillator she had been fitted with was verified. Furthermore, tests were carried out on the genes, a specialised genetic test and all the syndromes that cause sudden death were tested with negative results in all of them.
Finally, the toxicology report included in the case file states that the death of the 9-year-old girl was the result of fatal poisoning by a pharmaceutical substance. Ketamine was found in her post-mortem blood at a very high concentration of 6.5 ml per ml. The time it took for ketamine to take effect was between 5 and 20 minutes.
Source: Proto Thema
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