A mum was left horrified after her newborn’s nose was ‘destroyed’ when a doctor placed an oxygen mask on her improperly.
Olga Antipina from Sharya, Russia, is now fighting for justice after her birth to baby Dashenka, who arrived seven months premature, was allegedly handled poorly. The mum said authorities failed to progress her complaint when she noticed her daughter’s nose was ‘black as coal’.
Olga said: “In the morning they told me that everything was fine with the child, but she was being sent to Kostroma because she was born premature. I was allowed to come to her after I recovered. When I ended up in Kostroma and saw my daughter again, her nose was black as coal.”
“I asked the doctors what happened to the child, but everyone shrugged their shoulders. One single doctor told me, unofficially, that, most likely, Dasha’s oxygen mask was placed incorrectly. I was shocked: what mask? In Sharya they told me that everything was fine with the child, that she was breathing on her own. Nobody mentioned the mask.”
According to the mum, the blackened part of Dashenka’s nose then fell off – yet she was still discharged from hospital, which prompted the family to file a police report. She said: “Four months after that we did not receive any information on the case. And when my husband himself came to find out how it was going, it turned out that there was no report. They said they had lost it.
“My husband did not tolerate this and began to figure it out. That’s when everything started to take off – a case appeared, and literally the next day an investigator became involved. But even before that, I didn’t sit idly by – I wrote to the health department, to Roszdravnadzor. And everywhere they answered me: ‘What do you want? The child was born premature. Say thank you to the doctor for saving your daughter’s life.'”
The mum said authorities failed to progress her complaint (
Newsflash)
Dashenka was left with a deformed nose (
Newsflash)
She continued: “Then the department conducted an examination, where one of the doctors wrote that I smoked. It is not clear where this information was obtained from, since I did not smoke before, much less during, pregnancy. But, apparently, they wanted to attribute Dasha’s problems with her nose to this slander.”
Following an examination in Moscow, the family received a report confirming the the doctor was at fault for the incident, as they were accused of providing services that did not meet safety requirements. Olga said: “At the trial, the doctor pleaded not guilty. We were told that he seemed to have confessed during the investigation, but now he doesn’t. He says that he put on the mask because it was necessary, but claims that he did everything correctly, and the child simply has problems with blood circulation.
“It’s unbearable to sit in court opposite this doctor and his colleagues, to listen to how everyone praises him, and they blame us, they say, you have the conscience to sue the doctors who saved the child’s life.”
Dashenka now needs to undergo several surgeries, despite there being no guarantee of success. Olga said: “We showed our daughter to a plastic surgeon in Moscow when she was one year old, then when she was two years old. We travel, of course, at our own expense, no one helps us – not the department, no one, and the doctors are all paid. The difficulty is that the nose, like all parts of the face, grows and changes quickly.
“Therefore, surgery is ideally needed as late as possible, and then several more as she gets older. For now, they make predictions for the first operation at six to seven years old and monitor facial growth. They also don’t tell us how to pay for these operations yet. Whether it will be possible to use the quota or not, even the approximate cost is not given. But they say that the new nose may not take root, which means everything will have to start all over again. And I understand that my Dashenka has a lot of full-fledged operations and anaesthesia ahead of her, which will affect her health.”
Olga said the Department of Help responded to her by saying: “We are aware of the situation you described. The Department of Health conducted an internal audit. The actions of the doctors and the investigative authorities were checked – the case was closed. We understand that the results of these checks did not satisfy you, because the baby has a problem and it needs to be solved. We are ready to gather a council of doctors and discuss possible treatment options, but we also need your counter-will to try to resolve the issue. The main thing is to help your daughter
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