Investigation into politician’s death opened

The Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case into the death of A Just Russia member Maxim Glovoznin, who died at the steps of Moscow’s Vishnevsky hospital after doctors refused to help him, as his friends attest.

Head of Russia’s Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin demanded a thorough investigation into the politician’s death.

The case has been opened under “not helping the sick and leaving them in danger,” and those found guilty could face up to three years in prison.

Bastrykin said investigators would have to determine the full circumstances of the death and evaluate the action or inaction of medical personnel. Investigators have also been asked to check all the institute’s documents to see if they comply with federal laws.

The tragic death happened on April, 14, when Goloviznin felt ill in the car and collapsed.

It happened next to Vizhnevsky hospital, and Goloviznin’s friends say they tried to get him into the building, but security would not let them through. The man died outside of hospital.

The security guard called a doctor, but was told that the hospital did not accept emergency cases, and so no one could help. The doctors told Goloviznin’s friends to call an ambulance.

They even tried blocking the road, but it did not help. When the ambulance arrived, the Glovoznin was already dead.

The institute claims that as soon as the car with Goloviznin pulled up, they sent a duty doctor to look at the man. The medic declared him dead, head of the institute Valery Kubyshkin was quoted .

He also wrote that Goloviznin had died a long time before he reached the hospital.

Medical sources said the post-mortem determined that Goloviznin died two hours before he was taken to the hospital.

investigative department, however, said that the results of the post-mortem were not ready yet.

The Public Chamber was outraged at the incident.

“We are outraged at the actions of the security of the institute that refused to let a car with a dying man through to the territory of the organisation,” head of the commission on social issues and social policy Elena Nikolayeva said.

The Public Chamber will conduct its own investigation, she said.

We have to determine if the blame lies with the institute’s employees, or if it is the regulations of the health ministry that ban federal medical centres from accepting sick people from the street,” Nikolayeva said, adding that an analysis of the rules had to be conducted.

The number of complaints to the public chamber from people who were illegally refused treatment is growing, Nikolayeva said.

One of such cases was in Novosibirsk last year, when a refusal to treat a child for formal reasons resulted in the baby’s death.

Leonid Roshal Director of Moscow’s children surgery and trauma unit, President of national medical ward told Interfax about a comparable, but staged, spectacle outside his clinic.

On Thursday some people walked into the reception and said a woman needed emergency treatment in a car.

“An anti-shock room was arranged, the neuro-surgeon walked down, got ready. However, when everything was ready the doctors came to the car and found out that the woman did not require help,” he said.

Roshal said the woman was a professional actress, and said that if it was an attempt to provoke, then it is worrying.

Roshal recently criticised health ministry officials, saying that “It is, of course, a disaster that there is not a single normal experienced organiser of healthcare in the healthcare ministry.”

Ukraine Cardiologist Saved By Bronx Neurosurgeon

NEW YORK, USA -- One surgery ... thousands of lives saved. It sounds miraculous, but when one neurosurgeon in the Bronx recently came to the rescue of an ailing cardiologist from Ukraine thousands of sick children half a world away were better for it.
Laughter is good medicine now for 32-year-old Ulyana Melnick. Brain surgery saved her life less than a week ago. The young cardiologist, who has spent years performing life-saving operations on children, had just arrived here in the States for advanced medical training from her home in Odessa.However, suffering from acute headaches, the doctor quickly became the patient when she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Her neurosurgeon, Montefiore's Dr. Rick Abbott, recalled meeting her."When she arrived she showed me her scan and I was horrified. It was a large tumor that was affecting the speech areas of the brain," Abbott said.Luckily for Ulyana, her reputation preceded her. She's devoted her life to saving the lives of Ukrainian children at the Odessa Children's Hospital -- 140 operations to be exact.Much of her work has been done in association with Gift of Life International, an organization dedicated to providing free medical services to needy children throughout the world. It was Gift of Life that contacted Dr. Abbott on Ulyana's behalf."We had to help," Abbott said.Because the tumor was lodged in the part of Ulyana's brain that controls speech, she was awake for most of the lengthy procedure, her speech being tested as the tumor was cut out one small section at a time."By staying awake and cooperating with the testing we were able to get a bigger section of the tumor," Abbott said.With the help of a translator, Dr. Melnick said she is humbled for she has now received her own gift of life.When asked if as someone who has saved many lives herself did she ever picture herself being on the receiving end of that type of gift, Abbott replied, "Good question."Melnick said she's eager to get back to her work of helping children.Abbott said Ulyana could be back at work within a month depending on how she responds to treatment. She said that the best news she's had in a long time.Abbott said Ulyana's tumor, which was benign, had been growing since her adolescence and as a result her brain had remapped itself allowing her to remain highly functioning.

Ukrainian Teenager's Death Blamed On Illegal Vaccine

KIEV, Ukraine — Ukrainian prosecutors have ordered a senior health official detained on suspicion of illegally importing millions of doses of a vaccine that they charge caused a teenager's death, officials said Wednesday.
United Nations agencies have concluded that the 17-year-old boy's death in May 2008 was caused by a bacterial infection unrelated to the U.N.-certified vaccine for measles and rubella he had just received.But his death still led to widespread fears over immunization and caused health officials to terminate a campaign to revaccinate 9 million Ukrainians for measles and rubella.Dr. Fedir Lapiy, an expert in infectious diseases based in Kiev, has said that the Ukrainian government, plagued by infighting between various political groups, has mismanaged the crisis. Lapiy says that some officials have used the investigation to discredit their political opponents instead of conducting a thorough probe.Prosecutors have accused former Deputy Health Minister Mykola Prodanchuk of importing the vaccine without properly registering it here, which they say eventually led to the boy's death. They have provided no details on how the vaccine is alleged to have killed the boy.Yuriy Boychenko, spokesman for the Prosecutor General's office, told The Associated Press Wednesday that a Kiev court issued a search warrant for Prodanchuk after he failed to show up for questioning. Prodanchuk must be detained while a court decides whether he should be held in custody pending the investigation, Boychenko said.Prodanchuk, who resigned shortly after the teenager's death, has maintained his innocence. His lawyer, Mykola Shupenya, told the AP that he was in a hospital with an unspecified lung condition and could not appear in court.UNICEF, the U.N. children's agency, declined to comment. The World Health Organization reiterated that officials believe the vaccine was not responsible for the boy's death.Experts say termination of the vaccination campaign and the widespread refusals of vaccination could lead to major disease outbreaks in this France-sized country of 46 million and potentially spread to its European neighbors.