Window drama: a man with a psychiatric illness threw his daughter from the fourth floor

In Ufa on Thursday, a man threw his three-year-old daughter from a fourth-floor balcony. She survived, but was hospitalized in extremely serious condition. Before committing the crime, the man threw toys and things out of the house, staged a real pogrom in the apartment, but could not explain the motives of his act clearly. According to media reports, he had previously consulted a psychiatrist, but was not seen in aggressive behavior. Izvestia investigated how people with psychiatric illnesses are monitored to prevent such incidents.

What happened in Ufa

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Bashkortostan informed Izvestia that the incident occurred on the morning of October 9: a child born in 2022 fell out of a house on Ulyanov Street. Her 34-year-old father was arrested at the scene.

Investigators have opened a criminal case under the article on attempted murder of a minor (Part 3 of Article 30, paragraph "b" of Part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The SU IC of Bashkortostan confirmed that the man threw his daughter from the fourth floor.

The prosecutor's office of the Ordzhonikidze district of Ufa clarified that at the time of the incident, the father and daughter were alone in the apartment, as the mother and eldest son had gone to a sanatorium in another region.

It is known that the girl has already been operated on by neurosurgeons at GDKB No. 17, the operation lasted two hours, and now she is in intensive care in extremely serious condition.

What is known about the Ufa man who threw his daughter away

The man who threw his daughter away has been detained. According to media reports, he worked as an electrician, and his wife worked as an English teacher.

Before the crime, he started a pogrom at home: he threw things out of the window, smashed pieces of furniture. This can be seen in the live footage from the apartment and near the house. According to media reports, at the time of the arrest, the man was lying on the floor of the apartment only in his underwear and could not clearly explain what had happened.

According to unconfirmed reports, the detainee had previously been under psychiatric supervision. That was almost 15 years ago, and since then, at least officially, he has not applied to doctors.

Friends of the Ufa resident note that he did not show aggression, they did not notice any mental abnormalities behind him, he was sociable and cheerful.

"According to the description, we are probably talking about an acute mental episode when a person has lost touch with reality, acts under the influence of hallucinations, voices, and within the framework of an internal delusional picture," Olesya Tolstukhina, a clinical psychologist at the Doctor Nearby medical technology company, told Izvestia. — In this state, there is no self-criticism, the patient does not understand that he has flown out of reality, and commits inappropriate actions.

According to her, a close adequate adult can see an exacerbation when the patient clearly demonstrates a delusional picture, or a doctor, a medical psychologist, if the patient is at an appointment. Assistance in this situation should be provided immediately.: This involves taking prescribed medications and calling a psychiatric team that will assess the risk and decide whether to hospitalize the patient or not.

How people with mental disabilities are monitored

It should be noted that starting from March 1, doctors are required to transfer the data of patients with mental illnesses and a tendency to socially dangerous actions to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Information should be provided about patients who suffer from chronic or prolonged mental disorders, have often aggravated manifestations of the disease, and are already under medical supervision due to their tendency to dangerous actions for people. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has received the right to assist doctors in the forced hospitalization of such a person, if necessary. Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in turn, can also inform doctors about dangerous manifestations on the part of psychiatric clinic patients.

Izvestia sent questions to the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Republican Psychiatric Hospital of the republic about whether the man was really dangerous to society and whether it was known about it.

Pavel Kantor, a lawyer with the legal group of the regional charitable public organization Center for Curative Pedagogy, emphasizes that if a person is under psychiatric supervision, then there is a certain frequency of psychiatric examinations, consultations, and consultations, depending on the group of medical supervision. There is also a list of so—called controlled indicators, among which is the propensity to commit socially dangerous acts. A psychiatrist should monitor them at appointments and, if necessary, adjust them using drug therapy, psychotherapy, referral to specialists, including inpatient treatment, etc.

"If a citizen who is under medical supervision misses appointments and ignores treatment, then the doctor must take measures — they come to the house somewhere, they call by phone, etc.," he told Izvestia. — There is an Order of the Ministry of Health of Russia dated 30.06.2022 No. 453n, which regulates the procedure for this observation.

According to Marina Kalyuzhnaya, a psychiatrist and narcologist at the Dr. Kalyuzhnaya Clinic, if a patient does not show up for an examination, the district psychiatrist may even initiate involuntary hospitalization by court order.

— If we are talking about a parent with a disease, interdepartmental interaction becomes a key problem, — says Marina Kalyuzhnaya. — A psychiatrist, seeing a threat to a child, can inform the guardianship authorities. However, the system often fails: the condition may worsen between visits to the doctor, and relatives or caregivers do not always adequately assess the risk or promptly receive information.

Pavel Kantor notes that a citizen who is dangerous to a child due to a mental disorder may be restricted by a court in parental rights at the request of the guardianship authorities or the second parent.

— However, it should be understood that if parents live together with each other and their children, then restricting one parent's rights does not make sense, since he is not limited in communication with the child anyway, — says Pavel Kantor. — In our practice, there have been cases when guardianship authorities removed children from families where one of the parents suffered from a dangerous mental disorder, and the other could not or did not want to protect the child.

At the same time, he emphasizes that any person— both suffering from a chronic disorder and conditionally healthy, who had not previously come to the attention of psychiatrists, can experience a sudden psychosis that no one can predict or prevent.

— Here it is necessary to assess whether the person complied with the requirements of medical supervision, if he was on it. If he violated it, then what did the psychiatrist do in this regard," the lawyer notes. — It is necessary to find out whether there were any previous facts of dangerous behavior, including in relation to children, and what the guardianship authorities have done in this regard.

However, Pavel Kantor warned against "demonizing" people with mental disorders. According to him, it is often the preservation of the family environment that has a beneficial effect on mental disorder. Moreover, many people with mental disorders are quite responsible parents.

— Although, of course, the presence of a mental disorder in one of the parents requires increased attention and responsibility from the psychiatrist who carries out medical supervision, and from family members, and from guardianship authorities, — he stressed.

Do I need to change the system

According to psychiatrist Alexander Meshcheryakov, sometimes the system does not work due to the human factor - the doctor does not refine, for example. Or, conversely, patients do not want to be seen by a psychiatrist and may even hide.

— But such stories do not happen in one day: the patient changes, and it is the task of relatives and other people to see these changes, — says the interlocutor of Izvestia. — Neighbors, for example, can inform the authorities that could help, including the police, the psychiatric service.

Psychologist Olesya Tolstukhina stressed that the shortage of personnel in psychiatry and clinical psychology, especially in the field, requires solutions.

Marina Kalyuzhnaya is sure that the system itself is in urgent need of changes. In particular, she advocates outpatient compulsory treatment by court order to monitor therapy without isolation. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen the interaction between psychiatrists, caregivers and the police through effective notification systems. Third, families need support to reduce stigma and teach them how to recognize flare-ups. And fourthly, it is necessary to develop social rehabilitation to help with the consequences of the disease.

— Now the system works on the principle of responding to a crisis, not preventing it. The tragedy in Ufa is a terrible consequence of these systemic gaps," she is sure.