Volgograd Pensioner Hospitalized After Struggle Over Rotting Finger

In Volgograd, a 65-year-old pensioner with a decomposing finger was refused hospitalization at Regional Clinical Hospital No. 3. According to the patient«s wife, a doctor explained to them that the medical institution»s management had prohibited admitting patients «from the street,» but the man was eventually admitted and his finger was saved from amputation.

As told to V1.RU by the pensioner«s wife Vera Vetyutneva, her husband has diabetes. In October, he was admitted to Clinical Emergency Hospital No. 7, but there, as the woman says, they were in no hurry to clean his finger.

“A doctor admitted us, my husband was hospitalized, but for three days they practically did nothing. The finger was black, scary to look at. It needed to be opened and cleaned, but they just injected antibiotics and put in IVs. They admitted him on Thursday and only opened it on Sunday. There was already a cadaverous smell, decomposition. They continued with dressings. But no one did a thorough cleaning. We stayed for 10 days, the head of the department came and said it was time to discharge, there were no beds, they just threw us out,” the woman says. “We went to Polyclinic No. 4. There the doctor says he’s going on vacation, do the dressings yourself. And I’m scared… What if I make it worse? We went to the polyclinic of Hospital No. 7. There the doctor is on sick leave. A vicious circle. We’re doing the dressings ourselves again. And when I realized yesterday that the situation was terrible, we went back to Hospital No. 7. They said that today Hospital No. 3 is on duty. We went there.”

However, according to the woman, before her husband was hospitalized, they had to run from the hospital to the polyclinic and back.

“We came to the polyclinic of the regional committee hospital. They said, we’ll schedule you in two days. But it was urgent for us. We turned around and went to the hospital. There they called a surgeon. He said that the chief medical officer doesn’t allow him to admit such patients from the street, go to the polyclinic. We went back to the polyclinic. At the registration desk, they said if the surgeon accepts you, then we’ll process you. We went to the surgeon. He accepted us, started asking questions. And at that time, a surgeon from the hospital approached. He says, ‘I still want to take a look at the finger.’ He looked, was horrified. Said, we need to hospitalize,” the woman says. “Then the actions were very quick. They took tests, conducted an examination, and immediately performed the operation. I’m grateful to the surgeon who took responsibility upon himself. Despite being refused, prohibited, he saw the situation and understood… That’s also a brave act. But why is it like this for us? Why are we being passed around? Why are we forced to lose precious time?”

Chief physician of the State Budgetary Healthcare Institution «Volgograd Regional Clinical Hospital No. 3» (VOKB No. 3) Elena Levshina in a conversation with V1.RU reported: the patient came on his own feet and did not require emergency hospitalization. After examinations, he was admitted, operated on, and is now receiving necessary care.

Earlier, in the emergency room of Regional Clinical Hospital No. 3, a 67-year-old man suddenly died while waiting for hospitalization. Vasily Solovyov suddenly felt ill, but they couldn’t resuscitate him. At the same time, the regional health department noted: there was no queue for hospitalization.