Children in tuberculosis hospitals are often left without their parents and treated for many months. The World Court in Novosibirsk on Wednesday, December 16, sentenced former nurse Alexandra Andrianova to one year of corrective labor. She was convicted under Article 156 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for “failure or improper fulfillment of duties” to a minor patient. 10% of her salary will be withheld throughout the year. “Andriyanova admitted her guilt, repented and asked for forgiveness.”
In early November this year, a video from a children’s tuberculosis hospital in Novosibirsk appeared online. The footage, taken by a woman from a neighboring ward, shows a nurse lifting a girl by her hair and throwing her on the bed. In another video, she slaps other children. The girl who was abused in the video has been hospitalized since the spring of this year. The child is growing up without parental care: she was raised by her grandmother, who began the process of guardianship only after the video of her granddaughter was posted on the Internet.
The accusation against nurse Andriyanova is based on the testimony of the woman who made the video recording. “The author of the video claims that such actions of the nurse are systematic,” the website of the Investigative Committee of the Novosibirsk Region said.
Children’s departments of tuberculosis hospitals in Russia are among the most closed in the health care system, Marina Aksenova, director of the Sunny City Foundation, told Taiga.info. “Often children are there without their parents. And the treatment can last from six months to a year and a half. At the same time, there is a clear lack of care and educational staff in these institutions,” she said. According to Aksenova, such departments do not have the conditions for a child to stay for such a long time.
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After the investigation began at the request of Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, Rospotrebnadzor also joined the inspection. In the public sphere, the issue was taken up by Anna Kuznetsova, the Russian President’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights. She asked Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to develop a standard of care for children without parents in medical institutions. Kuznetsova also suggested introducing mandatory video surveillance in medical institutions where children are present. She called the new standards and video surveillance “the most important condition for ensuring the safety of children. However, as confirmed by the press service of Roszdravnadzor, the norms of the ratio of medical personnel to patients are already determined by the Federal Law # 323 “On the Fundamentals of Health Protection of Citizens in the Russian Federation” dated November 21, 2011. In other words, the department considers Kuznetsova’s proposal excessive. The press service of the children’s rights commissioner did not answer the BBC’s questions about what specifically should be included in the “standards” for health care providers caring for children in the absence of their parents, and what the current status of this initiative is.
In the training of medical nurses in the specialty “Nursing” in all basic medical schools in Russia, issues of ethics and deontology, i.e. the part of ethics that concerns communication with the patient, are studied. “In the old educational standards this may not have been the case, but since 2011 it has been,” Tatyana Deryabina, deputy director of educational work at the Kurgan Basic Medical College, said in an interview with the BBC. “Ethics and deontology as a separate discipline are not included in the program, but these issues are always addressed in training, including in the specialty of pediatrics.” According to BBC sources in the medical community, deontology has been part of the training of medical personnel at all levels, despite the critical attitude towards it by the founders of Marxism during the Soviet period. Deontological ethics (also known as “ethics of duty”) is a branch of moral doctrine that requires choosing the right, morally obligatory action regardless of its utilitarian consequences, benefits, or disadvantages. Familiarity with deontology should help nurses develop patience, perseverance, understanding of responsibility for the patient, and sympathy for the patient.