Hospital in Chelyabinsk Region to Pay Two Million to Parents for Newborn's Death

Asha Hospital will pay two million rubles (approximately $20,000 at current rates) to the parents for the death of their newborn son, a decision made by the Chelyabinsk Regional Court. The boy died in the maternity hospital from respiratory failure — the baby may have regurgitated, and stomach contents entered the airways, leading to fatal consequences. The parents had to prove this over several years.

“I expressed milk, they fed him”

The tragedy in Anna«s family (name changed at the heroine»s request — Ed.) occurred in May 2019. She and her husband were expecting a baby, the pregnancy was progressing calmly with no anticipated problems, but the delivery suddenly started prematurely — at 37 weeks.

“I gave birth naturally, without complications. There was a cry. We lay together in the delivery room for two hours, then they moved us to a ward,” Anna recalls.

The young mother raised the alarm when she couldn«t feed her son.

“He wouldn«t latch on to the breast. I informed the pediatrician about this, and they took him away; from that moment, the child was under doctors» observation. This was on the day of birth,” she says. “I expressed milk, they fed him independently. Then they switched to tube feeding after consulting with Chelyabinsk doctors.”

The child«s condition began to deteriorate, and he was connected to a mechanical ventilator. Meanwhile, the mother was told that her son had minor heart problems. Doctors were called from Chelyabinsk, but they couldn»t transfer him to the regional children«s hospital due to the little patient»s critical condition.

“They told me that today the child is not transportable. They gave recommendations to the Asha doctors, who were supposed to stabilize him, but after a day, the baby passed away,” says Anna. “The doctors didn«t explain what happened at all. When I came to the intensive care unit, they said everything was routine. He had sensors, some device, but I don»t understand that. I thought, under observation, so everything will be fine. They didn«t say there were any serious problems. And then they just came in and said that, unfortunately, it happened like that.”

What happened?

According to Anna, the first certificate listed pneumonia as the cause of death, but after the autopsy, the report indicated other diagnoses, with neonatal aspiration syndrome being key. After that, Anna«s husband filed complaints with the Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Health.

“At that moment, I didn«t yet realize that I needed to do something — to find out the true cause of my son»s death. Because when everyone tells you you«re carrying a healthy child, and he dies after four days, it»s just shock; for me, it was a very strong psychological trauma,” she shares. “But then the Investigative Committee refused to open a case because the examination did not establish a direct causal link between the medical care provided and the child«s death, and we decided to find out for ourselves what really happened.”

The couple turned to an insurance company, which conducted an inspection and identified numerous defects in the care provided both during the pregnancy management stage and after birth. After that, they went to court and demanded a new examination.

“The main difficulty in this case was the dubious conclusions of the examination appointed by the court of first instance. The court did not delve into them independently and made a decision based solely on the conclusion, which did not establish a causal link,” said the plaintiffs« representative, lawyer Valeria Mirfasolova.

During the consideration of the appeal in the Chelyabinsk Regional Court, two more examinations were appointed, in which the judges saw a key contradiction.

“According to the documents, the child was born healthy, with a good Apgar score — 7/8 points, but then his condition sharply deteriorated. The initial examination did not explain this,” emphasized the lawyer. “The judicial panel listened to the plaintiffs« position, compared all arguments with the conclusions of four examinations, and, evaluating all the evidence collectively, independently established a causal link between the defects in medical care and the newborn»s death.”

In particular, the experts indicated that aspiration occurred with stomach contents, after which necrosis began in the lungs. How this happened — it remains a mystery, but according to experts, such a syndrome is related to a violation of newborn feeding techniques.

“The hospital did not provide evidence confirming the provision of proper care for the newborn, compliance with feeding techniques,” states the decision of the Chelyabinsk Regional Court.

In the end, the court sided with the parents and ordered Asha Hospital to pay the mother 1.5 million rubles (approximately $15,000 at current rates) as compensation for moral damages, and 500,000 rubles (approximately $5,000) to the father. Additionally, the hospital will have to pay for all examinations in the case — over 270,000 rubles (approximately $2,700).

The regional Ministry of Health declined to comment on the court decision.