Triplets died at the Rostov perinatal center. The Investigative Committee began an investigation

In Rostov-on-Don, a couple from Taganrog lost three newborn children. On July 17, Taganrog resident Victoria Samoilenko gave birth to triplets Dmitry, Alexey and Ilya. A month later they died in intensive care.

I didn’t have time to issue a policy

Victoria found out she was expecting triplets at 12 weeks of pregnancy. She was sent to the perinatal center of Rostov-on-Don. The woman underwent all the necessary tests - the babies developed normally.

There was only one moment that the doctors warned us about. Alexey and Dima were in the same placenta, and Lesha could have problems because he was a little lacking in nutrition and could not keep up with his brother. In such situations, an operation to remove the fetus might have been required, but the danger had passed, said Victoria’s husband Alexander.

Labor has begun ahead of schedule- at the 32nd week. Ambulance took the woman to the Taganrog maternity hospital. They took it from her there necessary tests and then transported to the Rostov perinatal center. However, there was a slight hiccup. Victoria is a citizen of Ukraine, and she did not have a policy. Doctors began performing caesarean sections only when they were convinced that the woman would pay for the birth.

The boys were born weighing 1150, 1350 and 1550 grams. They were immediately placed in intensive care, and six days later they were transferred to the pathology department of newborns and premature infants, since they were already breathing and eating on their own.

Later, the children were diagnosed with enterocolitis - inflammation of the large and small intestines. Parents were reassured that this was normal for premature babies. And on August 1, one of the doctors let slip that a pathogenic organism was found in the blood of one of the boys, but did not explain which one and how the baby should be treated, writes 161.ru.

Ointment for cramps

On August 9, Samoilenko noticed that Dima looked unhealthy - he began to spit up after eating, did not scream, and began to have convulsions. In addition, the mother discovered strange sores behind the baby’s ear and told the doctor about everything. On the same day, doctors bathed the children, and after that Dima was placed in a separate incubator and prescribed ointment. On August 10 he became worse.

They constantly took blood from him, but nothing else was done. On August 14, I couldn’t stand it: I called my husband in tears and complained that the child was not feeling well, and the doctors were doing nothing. The husband arrived, caused a scandal and asked to involve other specialists in the treatment of his children. The doctors responded that they had the best specialists, Victoria shared.

As a result, Dmitry was diagnosed with pneumonia, he was transferred to intensive care and connected to a ventilator. A day later, Alexey was also placed there. They explained this by saying that he was in the same placenta with Dima, and he too could get worse. Ilya was still with his mother.

They tried to treat the older boy with antibiotics. At first he felt better - he began to gain weight, then his condition worsened again. On August 22, Dima fell into a coma, and a day later he died in front of his mother. Alexei died on August 28, and Ilya died the next day.

“I got the impression that with each of my children they waited until the very last, until the children’s health became critical,” Samoilenko said.

Triplets at risk

The Rostov Perinatal Center refused to comment on the situation, citing medical confidentiality. Doctors explained to Victoria Samoilenko herself that the birth of children from multiple pregnancy- this is a risk. In addition, according to them, the patient was underweight, she suffered from chronic endometritis and pyelonephritis, as well as cervical erosion.

“As for your claims against resuscitators, I can inform you that I have conducted an official investigation. Explanatory notes were taken from these doctors and the head of the department. No violations related to the dishonest performance of professional duties were identified,” Valery Bushtyrev, the head physician of the Rostov Perinatal Center, told Victoria.

However, Victoria herself claims that the doctors did not tell her anything about her health problems and did not even see her outpatient card. The couple contacted the investigative department of the ICR headquarters for the Voroshilovsky district of Rostov. Investigators promise to conduct an investigation.

“They get away with everything”

Residents of Rostov-on-Don note that this is not the first such case in the Rostov perinatal center.

“The perinatal center has long been famous for such infant deaths.”

“At Bushtyrev’s center, this is not the first case of the death of babies, so now my wife has opened a private medical center, Kushnaryov (the mayor of Rostov-on-Don. - Reedus’ note) cut the ribbon, children will die there too, because there are only doctors The same? And they get away with everything!”

“Multiple pregnancy and low body weight are a delusional explanation. Another tragedy on the conscience of doctors.”

The Samoilenko spouses from Taganrog accuse doctors of the Rostov Regional Perinatal Center of negligence, unprofessionalism and indifference, which led to the death of three newborn babies.

This story began on very happy notes, but ended tragically. Mother of triplets Victoria Samoilenko told the site’s correspondent in an interview how the tragedy happened and why the spouses blame doctors for the death of their babies.

- Victoria, tell us how it happened that your babies could not be saved?

I would like to tell you a story with a good ending, but, unfortunately, it won’t work. Today I buried my three children.

My story began in 2014, when I arrived in Rostov from Lugansk. Here I met my husband, we recently celebrated our third marriage anniversary. The husband really wanted children, and twins. On December 31, I found out that I was pregnant and congratulated my husband on this New Year's gift. The ultrasound revealed that we were having triplets. At first we were shocked, but then we just started preparing for the birth of the babies. We bought three strollers, ordered a large bed for the triplets - everything we needed for the kids.

- How was your pregnancy?

Great. The doctors were very surprised when I came for an ultrasound, because, for example, at 6 months one child should weigh a kilogram, but all three of me weighed a kilogram. All was good. The only thing we were warned about was that two twins were in one placenta and one in the other, so one baby received more nutrition from the mother than the other two. There were no pathologies or problems. All was good. They only warned that triplets could be born premature in any case, but that’s not a big deal. Every two weeks I did an ultrasound on the doctors’ recommendation.

- When did labor begin? Did everything go well?

Labor began ahead of schedule, as doctors predicted, at 32 weeks and two days. My husband called an ambulance and they first took me to the hospital in Taganrog. They put an IV there, and then brought me to Rostov. I had been lying in the regional perinatal hospital for four hours without amniotic fluid- they moved away. I was already panicking.

Afterwards, a doctor and an anesthesiologist came in and had the following dialogue with me: “So, what about her documents? She’s not a citizen of Russia”? I replied that I was at the stage of obtaining citizenship. Now I have a TRP (temporary residence permit). If the children had been born on time, I would have had time to obtain citizenship. Although this does not matter, because I was in their hospital and took all the tests for money, which I told them about. To this one doctor said to another:

“So what, should I give her an expensive injection now, but she won’t have the money to pay for it later?”

- Was this dialogue conducted in front of you?

Yes, I was lying on the gurney, and they were discussing it. The doctor who later performed the caesarean section opened my card and said: “Yes, they stitched it up here, she paid 17 thousand rubles here, and 13 thousand here. She has money.” I was shocked and screamed for them to go out into the corridor. I said that my husband was there and he would give them money. Only after that did they take me to the operating room.

- When were the babies born? Did everything go without complications?

I gave birth to my long-awaited triplets on June 17th. And it was not artificial, but lovingly planned twins, which on ultrasound turned out to be triplets. They were born in the Rostov Regional Perinatal Center with normal weight, not 600 or 700 grams. Three boys were born with the help caesarean section at 32.2 weeks with weights of 1150, 1350 and 1550.

The last one, Ilyusha, died with a weight of 2350, and the rest were already almost 2 kilograms.

- When the children were born, were they diagnosed with any diseases?

At first, the children were in intensive care, but after 5 days they were transferred to the department of pathology of newborns and premature infants, and then it all started. The doctor said that they had enterocolitis - an inflammation of the intestines. And she added that this can happen in premature babies, because this is one of the diseases that occurs frequently. They started treating us for this. Then I noticed that Dima (the third born) had some wounds behind his ear, like ulcers. I went to the doctors, and they said that it was a common diaper rash, then another doctor said that it was very bad and advised me to buy ointment with zinc to dry the wounds. I rushed to the pharmacy by taxi and bought ointment right away to begin treatment. From that day on, the child became worse.

- Did the doctors examine all the babies after that?

Yes, others didn’t have this. The children were given medications and could not be bathed, and then another came and said that they would bathe my babies, although this could not be done while taking these medications. Perhaps it was possible to disconnect from the machine that supplies the medicine, but I was just surprised, because I read that the medicine should be constantly supplied to the line, because these lines get clogged and can be bad consequences. The very fact is that no one is bathed, even if they ask, but my babies were bought on August 9 and all three were put in different places.

On August 13, when the manager came, I said that Dima was worse, he was pale, he didn’t react to anything, even when they took his blood for tests, he didn’t cry. To which she replied: “What do you want, he’s sick.”

I called my husband, cried, told him that Dima was very ill, and the doctors were doing nothing. The husband arrived and started arguing with them. Both the doctors and the manager herself came to the manager’s office and brought their lawyer for some reason. When my husband asked what happened to my children, they didn’t really answer him. To the clear question posed by my husband, we did not hear a clear answer. The doctor constantly spoke in vague phrases in her medical language, which we did not understand. In the end, she said the same thing she told me: “The children are sick.”

On the same day, Dima was transferred to intensive care, and the next day they said that he had an infection and began a blood transfusion.

- Was the child getting better?

No. On August 15, Dima was already given a blood transfusion and a bunch of medications and antibiotics were poured into him. I started writing down everything that happens to the children in a notebook. Since there were three of them, so as not to miss anything, I always had a notebook at hand. I was even afraid to leave them alone, because once, when I went into my room, I saw nurse Ekaterina putting probes in my boys’ mouths without gloves, and I think this was not the first time.

Then I started watching every move of the staff. I ran from ward to ward because all my boys were lying separately. I was with Dima until his death. On August 23 at 9.48 he died in intensive care.

How did doctors react to the death of the first baby? Have they started to more comprehensively examine the remaining two boys?

A couple of days later they transferred Lesha (the first baby) to the intensive care unit, where Dima was lying. They argued that Lesha and Dima shared the same placenta and there could be one disease between them. I’m not a doctor and I didn’t know that when a baby goes into a coma, his brain turns off. The doctors knew this and continued to give hope that everything would be fine, although they were simply waiting for his death. It was later that I realized with the second and third that when a child sleeps with with open eyes in a coma, he will soon die. And when I started screaming, they told me that they had an intrauterine infection, that’s why they were dying. The question arose: where did the virus come from? Why weren't viruses found right away? Such a negligent attitude shocked me; they did not hear and did not want to hear.

- Did you have any chronic diseases? Were you registered at the hospital?

Of course not. All my tests were fine for 8 months. Even in my life, I have never been in a hospital with chronic diseases. Moreover, they did not receive treatment. If there were any diseases, I would have been warned during pregnancy.

- How did the kids feel?

Ilyusha was also transferred from the ward of the neonatal pathology department to the intensive care unit. I went to them and looked at them. Entering the children's ward, I saw on the board that the heart rate (heart rate) had dropped below normal, but the nurses were sitting and chatting and did not hear, since the alarm was turned off when the child was in serious condition. And even if the staff knows that the child is dying, no one gives them the right to turn off the alarm. Perhaps due to an unheard signal, the first health care.

I started screaming, the doctors came running and said that this was the second attempt to save the children. I held their hands and cried, and they looked at me as if they were asking for help. I was ready to die in their place, if only they would live.

-Have you turned to anyone else for help?

I asked them to send another doctor. Not because these don’t work well, but just suddenly another doctor will understand how to save babies and why they are dying. I wanted to save at least one.

Through gritted teeth, the doctor called someone and said: “Well, come and take a look. Here one has already died, and two still exist.”

- Is that what the doctor said in a telephone conversation?

Yes. Alyoshenka died on the same day. It was August 28 at 16.02. And on August 29 at 9.42 the last one, Ilyusha, died. This pain is unbearable. It seemed to me that this was not true, since I saw all three deaths of my children and was with them until the last. It doesn’t happen like that (cries).

- What happened then, did you turn to anyone for help in investigating the death of your children?

Yes, after Dimochka’s death, the husband contacted the police, Rospotrebnadzor, the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Roszdravnadzor, the President of the Russian Federation and Rosgosstrakh in Rostov, where the children were insured. We knocked on every door.

In his appeals, he asked to take action and not allow the rest of our children to die. He was told that his letters had been forwarded to the government of the Rostov region and the regional prosecutor's office for investigation. But, unfortunately, they did not have time to save the remaining babies.

- When did you bury the kids?

Today we buried all our boys. I have never buried loved ones. Thanks to the woman from the morgue who called and asked: "When will you pick up your children for the funeral"? I was simply shocked because they told us that they would call us after the examinations so that we could pick up the children. But it turned out that the children were lying there alone, and they should have been taken away a long time ago and no one informed us.

I was in the perinatal center from August 17 to August 29. 10 children died there while I was there. After discharge, the girls reported that three more children had died. All children who died were diagnosed with intrauterine infection. Everyone.

I blame the entire staff of the department of pathology of newborns and premature babies for the death of my children. I fought for their lives in the hospital until the last second and will fight until the end so that the perpetrators are punished. Maybe our struggle will help save the lives of children born.

In Rostov-on-Don, two criminal cases were opened in one day regarding the death of newborns. The first case concerns the death of Samoilenko’s triplets, who died in intensive care a month after birth. Parents accuse employees of the Rostov Regional Perinatal Center of causing death by negligence.

“The investigator ordered the necessary forensic medical examinations in order to establish the causes of death of newborn children,” said a representative for the Rostov region.

In his appeals, he asked not to allow his other children to die. Letters from the restless spouse were sent to the government of the Rostov region and.

At the end of August, it became known about the death of the remaining boys: they died almost simultaneously in intensive care. “I got the impression that with each of my children they waited until the very last, until the children’s health became critical,” said a resident of Taganrog.

In the medical records of the triplets, there are dashes in the “cause of death” column. The children's mother claims that her children could not even be diagnosed.

Employees of the Rostov Regional Perinatal Center refused to communicate with journalists, citing “medical confidentiality.” They only noted that “the birth of children from multiple pregnancies is always a risk group.” Moreover, experts emphasized, the newborns had chronic diseases - endometritis and pyelonephritis. “As for the claims against resuscitators, I can report that I have conducted an official investigation. Explanatory notes were taken from these doctors and the head of the department. No violations related to dishonest performance of professional duties were identified,” said Valery Bushtyrev, head physician of the Rostov Regional Perinatal Center.

The response from the management of the special maternity hospital did not suit the parents. They are convinced that doctors are to blame for the death of their children: “If there were some problems during pregnancy, then why didn’t the doctors tell us anything back then?” The woman also asked to involve experts from Murmansk in the investigation. She is convinced that the Rostov forensic medical examination bureau is located in the same region, as well as in close proximity to the perinatal center, and therefore there may be an interest in the outcome of the case. The family is ready to pay all costs for an independent examination.

The director of the Institute of Health told Gazeta.Ru that such deaths are not uncommon. “Perinatal centers are created for mothers with complicated pregnancies and health problems. For such organizations, the death of a newborn is not something supernatural. This is where complex cases flock: there the risk of death is higher,” she said.

Popovich is confident that every death requires an investigation. However, the expert noted, such incidents happen regularly in Russia.

“We are not gods, and the infant mortality rate in the country is 6.9 per 1,000 live births. In the Rostov region, where many migrants or mothers who registered late give birth, this figure increases to 20 children per thousand,”

- the expert explained.

It is noted that infant mortality in Russia as a whole is decreasing. If in 2012 the infant mortality rate was 8.6 per 1000 births, then by 2017 it decreased by more than 40%. “Today, infant and maternal mortality rates have reached historic lows in our country. Let me remind you that according to forecasts from 2009-2010, we planned to reach 7.5 in 2020 (taking into account the transition to international live birth criteria). However, over the past five years, infant mortality has decreased by more than 40%, and in January-February 2017 it reached 5.0 per thousand live births,” the Minister of Health recently said.

15:06 — REGNUM A criminal case has been opened in the Rostov region regarding the death of triplets in a perinatal center. Doctors are still suspected of causing death by negligence. But all the details of the incident will be established during the pre-investigation check, they reported IA REGNUM in the regional department of the Investigative Committee on September 19.

A 32-year-old resident of Taganrog was admitted to the maternity hospital on July 17, 2017. On the same day, three babies were born by caesarean section. The boys were admitted to the department of pathology of newborns and premature infants, but the lives of the babies could not be saved. All three died. The causes of their deaths will be established after the results of forensic examinations.

Investigators will also check the quality of medical services provided in a medical institution and give a legal assessment of the actions of doctors.

As reported IA REGNUM informed sources and doctors themselves blame the death of babies on an intrauterine infection, which is extremely difficult to identify. And the mother was warned that triplets were already a risk. The babies were born with a deficit of body weight - 1150, 1350 and 1550 kg, and the mother in labor was diagnosed with chronic endometritis and pyelonephritis, cervical erosion and other diseases. Doctors have all the documentation confirming the presence of infections.

In an interview with the portal 161.ru, a couple from Taganrog accused the doctors of the perinatal center of the death of their children. The woman regularly visited specialists, and the tests did not show any problems. The babies, she said, developed normally. The only thing the parents were warned about was that two children were in the same placenta, so one of them did not have enough nutrition.

Let us note that this is not the only such case in the perinatal center of Rostov-on-Don, which is considered one of the best maternity hospitals in the region. So, in 2013, a 33-year-old woman in labor gave birth to a healthy girl after a caesarean section at 38 weeks - weight 3.8 kg, height 53 centimeters. Two days later the baby died. The autopsy did not reveal any internal pathologies. At the maternity hospital, this case was classified as sudden infant death syndrome.

Let us remind you that the regional perinatal center was opened in December 2010. During this time, almost 30 thousand children were born here. The center’s specialists managed to save the lives of more than 170 newborns born with a body weight of less than 1000 grams, and almost 600 babies born with a body weight of 1000 to 1500 grams. At the same time, doctors at the perinatal center have repeatedly helped mothers who were expecting three or four children to give birth to healthy children.

Background

Most of the violations in medical institutions are non-compliance with sanitary standards, lack of medical examinations of staff and careless attitude towards hazardous medical waste.
Facilities and equipment in medical institutions often do not meet established requirements, and sometimes household or other inappropriate equipment is used. In some medical institutions, cleaning and disinfection schedules are not followed, or cleaning is carried out poorly. The requirements for disinfection and sterilization of medical instruments are violated.
There have been numerous cases where medical staff do not undergo preventive examinations, do not take tests and do not get vaccinated. When handling medical waste, violations occur such as incomplete immersion of medical waste in a disinfectant solution, lack of markings on medical products, after emptying the container for storing medical waste, it is not disinfected, needles can be stored at the workplace for more than 3 days.
Emergencies such as harm to the patient’s health, injury or even death occur relatively rarely. Such cases become resonant. Their cause may be both the above violations and medical errors in prescribing treatment.
Offenses constitute a separate category. On the part of medical staff, this may include corruption crimes or violent acts against patients. Occasionally, crimes such as deliberately infecting patients or switching newborns occur. Sometimes emergencies occur due to the fault of patients themselves, who violate the treatment regimen or show aggression towards medical staff.