Story By: Bartosz Staszewski, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: CEN

Police believe a hospital patient burnt to death after a nurse gave him a cigarette when he was strapped to his hospital bed.

The 37-year-old man, whose name has been not released, died from his injuries after the fire on a hospital ward in the town of Kutno in central Poland’s Lodz Voivodeship region.

He suffered critical burns after his bed burst into flames in the early hours of the morning. He was airlifted to the intensive care unit of another hospital but died hours later.

Pictures Credit: CEN/PanoramaKutna.pl

Police say the man had been strapped to his bed after he began to act aggressively towards hospital staff earlier in the evening.

They found the remains of a packet of cigarettes and a lighter close to the burnt remains of his bed and believe a nurse gave him a cigarette which caused the fire, according to reports.

There were no staff on the ward at the time and they only became aware of the blaze when another patient ran out of the room shouting a bed was on fire.

Nurses and doctors ran onto the ward but the 37-year-old patient had already suffered the critical injuries which later claimed his life.

Krzysztof Kopania, a spokesman for the District Prosecutor’s Office in the city of Lodz, said he believed the fire was started by the restrained patient smoking in bed.

He said: “An inspection carried out with the participation of a firefighting expert confirmed there was a packet of cigarettes and a lighter next to the bed.

“According to medical staff, treatment was taken against the patient after he began to behave strangely before midnight.

“He wanted to leave the hospital. There were signs of aggression. For this reason, the man was strapped to his bed with safety belts.”

The incident has sparked a debate on social media where netizen ‘Michał800’ pointed out: “If he was strapped to the bed, then someone else lit the cigarette.”

The investigation is ongoing.