Victims of substitution in the Soviet maternity hospital refused to compensate for the mistake of doctors

The courts refused to pay compensation for medical error to the victims of substitution in the Soviet maternity hospital, Sergei Stepanov and Andrei Moskalkov. The defense informed Izvestia about this on January 26.

"A negative <...> decision [on compensation] based on the fact that there was allegedly no relevant law on compensation for moral damage in the context of this situation until 1991," Stepanov said of the decision of the Second Court of Cassation.

The victims' lawyer, Alexander Zorin, said that the substitution of children occurred in 1989, when the mothers brought children with the same tag.

"They brought them children with the same tag. The mother was worried, but they said that everything was fine, they just confused the tag itself, but not the children. And they were given children, they separated, they lived in different ways for 34 years, but the mother was the only one doubting all the time," he said.

According to the lawyer, the refusal of the courts to provide compensation violates the principle of equality and the principle of caring for children. The time of the injury should be taken into account, not the mistake that was made, Zorin added.

"If they (the victims — Ed.) realize this harm after 34 years, that they have learned that they have been replaced, all legislative mechanisms for compensation already exist," the lawyer said.

Was there a boy: the punishment for substituting children in the hospital may increase

In Yakutia, at the request of the mother, an exhumation of a baby who died 17 years ago was carried out.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on January 9 that measures should be taken to prevent the deaths of infants in Russian maternity hospitals. He stressed that work is currently underway at both the regional and federal levels, and an appropriate commission is involved.

Obstetric hospital No. 1 of the city clinical hospital No. 1 in Novokuznetsk temporarily stopped receiving patients on January 13 due to an excess incidence of respiratory infection. Subsequently, it became known about the death of nine babies in the hospital during the New Year holidays. The Russian Investigative Committee confirmed the death of newborns, and a criminal case was opened.

On January 15, the Central District Court of Novokuznetsk chose a preventive measure in the form of a ban on certain actions for Alexey Emikh, acting head of the intensive care unit of Novokuznetsk Maternity Hospital No. 1.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.