Doctors on Trial Over Nine Newborn Deaths in Kuzbass

A federal commission has been working for several days at Novokuznetsk Maternity Hospital No. 1, where nine infants mysteriously died. Meanwhile, the public, law enforcement, doctors, and new mothers continue to put forward their own versions of what happened during the January holidays.

How they characterize the work of the perinatal center and what is known about the suspects accused in the infants« deaths — in a compilation of key events from the tragedy by the editors of NGS42.RU.

While regional authorities remained silent, and law enforcement and leading national experts conduct an investigation within the hospital walls, a spontaneous chronicle has gained strength online. Former patients are publishing personal tragic and painful stories one after another related to the institution.

The dates of events vary, but the new mothers speak of roughly the same thing. According to them, in the obstetrics department, unsanitary conditions prevailed and there was obvious indifference to the health of patients. In one case, a woman accused surgeons of allegedly removing her uterus without her consent.

How truthful these reviews are remains for law enforcement to determine, as against the backdrop of mass complaints, a pre-investigation check has begun.

Several new mothers also contacted the editors of NGS42.RU, whose recollections we published. And here it is important to note that despite all the shocking descriptions of the maternity department«s work, the resuscitation unit is spoken of in diametrically opposite terms. Pediatric doctors, according to the women, treated every little life with care. What happened in January is a complete mystery that social media users are trying to unravel day by day.

Law enforcement agencies have so far put forward the version that hospital staff are involved in the tragedy, two of whom have ended up in court.

The proceedings to select preventive measures for the suspects — chief physician Vitaly Kheraskov and his subordinate Alexey Emikh — lasted 8.5 hours. All this time, the editors of NGS42.RU conducted a detailed report with details of the hospital«s work, testimonies from doctors and suspects.

Among other things, from the case materials it became known that Rospotrebnadzor (the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing) repeatedly identified violations in the maternity hospital. Whether they were addressed is unknown. But in unison, December«s new mothers say: doctors did not wear masks, even though among them there were those sick with ARVI/ARI.

In particular, two nurses went on sick leave for this reason, and symptoms were noted by the chief physician himself. The latter told investigators that he does not rule out the possibility of violations by medical staff, but also allows for the version of an intrauterine infection.

Resuscitator-anesthesiologist Emikh, who managed to work as head of department for just three hours before detention, stated that he does not consider himself guilty. According to him, he did everything possible for two small patients who died in January.

Head of department Konstantin Lukashev, whom Emikh replaced in the position, is now in the hospital, but before heart complications he managed to give testimony, some of which were voiced in court:

• he did not see sick medical staff contacting new mothers or children;

• the condition of the newborns deteriorated sharply: their temperature rose and their lungs became inflamed;

• regarding this, Novokuznetsk doctors consulted with specialists from Moscow;

• the infection, according to Lukashev«s assumptions, could have entered the maternity hospital from parents through the ventilation.

Chief physician Kheraskov stated that he learned of the mass death of newborns not immediately — only on 9 January from doctors« reports. At the same time, he informed the regional Ministry of Health about it and allegedly proposed closing the department for quarantine.

Neither the agency itself in the person of head Andrey Tarasov, nor law enforcement, nor medical staff explained why this was not done. And what the ministry was doing in the subsequent days is also unknown.

For the duration of clarifying these and other circumstances of the case, the Investigative Committee requested to send Kheraskov and Emikh to a pre-trial detention center (SIZO), but was refused. The court selected for the acting head of department a prohibition of certain actions, and for his superior — house arrest.

While the fate of the doctors was being decided, the Kremlin spoke up. Press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov commented on the tragedy, calling the death of nine infants «a great grief,» and offered condolences to the families.

The cause of the tragedy must be found, he stated, so that something similar never happens again.

By the way, regional authorities also stated that they would check all maternity hospitals in the region in light of what happened in Novokuznetsk. Over three days, judging by social media, only two institutions have been inspected: in Prokopyevsk and the second department in Novokuznetsk.

Other important details of the newborn deaths in Kuzbass we are gathering in a special report.