Giorgos Mazonakis died earlier this month, aged 54, after a medical treatment went wrong, leading to a sudden cardiac arrest. The beloved singer, who was one of Greece’s most popular performers over the last three decades, died on September 9 after a plasma exchange treatment.
Plasma exchange removes plasma, the liquid portion of blood, and replaces it with another fluid or donor plasma. It is issued to treat serious medical conditions, but some clinics use it as an anti-ageing treatment. Elpis Hospital, where Mazonakis was taken to, issued a statement confirming the news, saying: “At 4:45pm, he was brought in by EKAB ambulance without spontaneous breathing and with no pulse. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed in accordance with protocol, without success. The official time of death was 5:40pm.
Athens Medical Association president Giorgos Patoulis said the treatment is “a specialised medical procedure” which requires not only appropriate machinery but also specialised staff and standards.
Greek television channel MEGA is now reporting that his death has turned into a criminal investigation, with police allegedly finding searches on Mazonakis’ doctor’s phone for how to perform resuscitation on ChatGPT.
YNetNews also reported that authorities are looking into why a plasma exchange machine was allegedly operating in the clinic and whether the clinic was authorised to use it. Questions have also been raised over what medical treatment Mazonakis received and why emergency services were not called earlier.
Police were investigating the star’s death (Image: -)
The married doctors who operate the clinic, Dr Ioanna Gaka and Dr Ilias Theodoropoulos, have been arrested. Both doctors deny wrongdoing and remain in custody pending trial.
Mazonakis is a huge star in both Greece and Cyprus, and rose to fame with his work on contemporary Greek laïko music, a pop-folk Greek music style from the 50s and 60s.
He was also a judge on the Greek version of The Voice in recent years.
