Court sentences three doctors at Moscow maternity hospital for death of newborn
The Gagarinsky District Court of Moscow has convicted three doctors of the capital’s Maternity Hospital No. 4 at the Vinogradov Hospital because of a baby who did not survive after birth. This was reported by a correspondent for Lenta.ru.
Obstetricians-gynecologists Giorgi Kaladze, Anastasia Kayumova and the head of the pregnancy pathology department Marina Kiriya were found guilty of the crime, but the court released them from punishment due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. At the same time, Kaladze received a suspended sentence of 1.5 years for falsifying documents in a medical record. His colleague, neonatologist Irina Gerasimova, was found guilty under the article on falsifying medical data, but was also released from serving her sentence due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. She can exercise her right to rehabilitation for acquittal under Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Performing work that does not meet safety requirements”)
In addition, the court ordered the doctors to pay more than half a million rubles jointly and severally to cover the victim’s legal costs.
On November 9, 2018, a woman pregnant with her fourth child was giving birth. According to investigators, doctors underestimated the severity of her condition and did not perform a cesarean section. As a result, the boy was born on time, but with severe hypoxia (strangulation by a short umbilical cord wrapped around the neck). At the same time, according to witnesses, Dr. Kaladze left the woman in labor for two hours during the first stage of labor to drink tea.
According to the conclusion of forensic experts, the doctors’ behavior led to “rupture of the umbilical cord vessels, the onset of severe fetal asphyxia at birth in the form of an absolutely low level of fetal hemoglobin,” “which contributed to the aggravation of his condition.” Neonatologist Irina Gerasimova also failed to provide adequate assistance to the newborn. As a result, the boy lived for 23 hours.
To hide this fact, Kaladze and Gerasimova falsified the records in the birth chart, as well as the cardiotocography tape (CTG, ECG of the fetus in pregnant women), cutting out the most characteristic piece and gluing in its place a tape from another patient who gave birth without complications. However, their illegal actions were recorded by a surveillance camera, which allowed experts to reconstruct the true picture of what happened in the delivery room.
The child’s father worked for many years in the Komi Republic prosecutor’s office, and the forensic medical examination of the case was conducted in the neighboring Arkhangelsk Region, although the birth took place in Moscow. The doctors’ defense considered this a violation of the law, but the court rejected these arguments, since most of the experts’ conclusions were confirmed by video recordings.
Both sides have already announced their intention to appeal the verdict.
On July 8, it was reported that a Moscow court sentenced 50-year-old Anna Sivakova, the founder and former director of beauty clinics where three patients died as a result of operations and three more suffered serious bodily harm, to seven years in prison in absentia.
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