The Croatian Journalists' Association (HND) issued a press release on Monday on the occasion of the second anniversary of the death of journalist Vladimir Matijanic, in which it once again blamed the health system for the death of the journalist from the Index.hr news portal.

The association says that 730 days have passed since Matijanic “died after unsuccessfully asking KBC Split doctors for help” and no one has been held accountable.

The association also accuses Health Minister Vili Beros and “a phantom task force” of covering up the Matijanic case.

At the end of 2023, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the City of Split (DORH) dismissed criminal charges against several people for misconduct in the treatment of journalist Matijanic, who died in August 2022 from severe complications caused by COVID-19.

The prosecutor’s office found that Matijanic received adequate medical treatment between 2 and 5 August 2022 and that no omission was committed that could have led to a worsening of his condition or his death, a court in Split said.

Numerous questions unanswered

An expert opinion on the treatment was prepared by the the University of Zagreb School of Medicine.

On Monday, the HND described the decision of the DORH office in Split as scandalous and continues to demand the dismissal of Health Minister Vili Beros over Matijanic’s death.

Matijanic died on 5 August 2022 in his flat in Split as a result of a coronavirus infection, which attracted much public attention after his partner Andrea Topic said that doctors at KBC Hospital Split and the ambulance service did not want to help him, even though he suffered from a number of underlying diseases.

Matijanic suffered from Sjögren’s syndrome and interstitial lung disease, with two other autoimmune diseases suspected. He had also contracted coronavirus.

After his death, a commission set up by the Ministry of Health to investigate the case found no negligence in his treatment, nor did the expert commission of the Croatian Medical Chamber.

In 2023, following the investigation into the death of journalist Vladimir Matijanic, Ombudswoman Tena Simonovic-Einwalter said that the commission of the Ministry of Health, which found that there had been no omissions in his treatment, had left numerous questions unanswered.

Ombudswoman: Statements by doctors and other medical professionals were not additionally checked

Simonovic-Einwalter launched an investigation into Matijanic’s medical care and his right to full information in August 2022.

During the investigation, she obtained statements and documents from the Ministry of Health, the Croatian Medical Chamber, the Croatian Chamber of Nurses, the Institute of Emergency Medicine of Split-Dalmatia County, the KBC Split Hospital and information from the State Attorney-General’s Office.

The opinion of the expert commission of the Ministry of Health, which investigated the case, contains chronological data based solely on statements by doctors and other medical professionals who were involved in Matijanic’s medical care, the Ombudswoman said.

These statements were not subjected to additional scrutiny and were taken for granted without further analysis or identification of possible omissions, Simonovic-Einwalter said in a report published on her office’s website.

The Ombudswoman says that the final judgement of the expert commission was based on the assumed degree of responsibility of the patient for his own health, but at the same time the reasons for his alleged non-therapy and vaccination against COVID-19 were not examined in more detail.