DOI:
Med. pravo., 2014; 1(13): 57-60
UDC: 616-035.3:343.97:004.77(478+477+470)
FLORYA VASILIY NIKOLAYEVICH
doctor of law, professor of the Department of criminal law and criminology of the Academy “Stefan cel Mare” of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Moldova (Republic of Moldova)
Precaution and Detection of Medical Crimes with the Help of Video Cameras and the Internet
Crime precaution is one of the most important areas of social regulation, administration and monitoring, ensuring normalization of social relations by exclusion of the most dangerous encroachments on them.
There are general social and special criminological precaution, prevention, precluding of crime and others. General social crime precaution is a system of measures of abolishing the processes of determination and the causes of crime, affecting on the entire population or its groups distinguished on common economic, social and other criteria, creating the likelihood of criminal behavior of almost all members of these social groups.1
The seminal definition in criminology is given to medical prevention: “Prevention is a system of political, legislative, enlightenmental, sanitary and technical, sanitary and hygienic, antiepidemic and medical measures that are systematically carried out by state institutions and civil society organizations to ensure the comprehensive development of physical and spiritual forces of citizens, notify and reduce the risks of growth of health deflections and illnesses, preclude and slow down their progress, reduce their unfavorable consequences.2
Seven criminal proceedings under art.162 of Criminal Code for failure to provide care to patient, resulted in 4 cases of death and 33 criminal proceedings under art.213 of Criminal Code for negligent violation of rules and methods of health care, mostly resulted in death of patients, were instituted in 2012 in Moldova by the bodies of criminal prosecution and prosecutors.
We have already mentioned of the shortcomings of investigation of these cases. The most important of them is: prosecutor institutes criminal proceeding, doesn’t carry out an inquiry, sets up forensic examination and puts burden of proof on expert. After 1, 2 or 3 years of waiting for an expert report prosecutor closes a case.
After hearing of the case, court passes a verdict of guilty without imprisonment or deprivation of right to practice a medicine.3At the same time we consider positive the fact that some of criminal cases of medical crimes reach up to the Supreme Court of Justice of Moldova. Under the judgment of the Lewisville regional court after 9th of April 2012 Doctor R. T. was sentenced under art.213 of Criminal Code of Moldova to 2 years of suspended imprisonment with the deprivation of right to practice medicine. Also he had to pay 8961 leys of damages to victim T. K.
The Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal Chisinau upheld the verdict of the district Lewisville of April 9, 2012. The Criminal Division of the High Court of Justice in its ruling of March 12, 2013 changed the first instance verdict, excluding additional penalty of deprivation of the right to practice medicine. R. T. was accused of that, occupying the post of head of the surgical department, on the 15th of January 2011 accepted from the admissions office patient S.I. with two head - brain injuries, examined it superficially, in violation of the rules and methods of care. In 12 hours, the patient died.4The above-mentioned shortcomings in the investigation of medical crimes occur in individual investigators, prosecutors in Ukraine.
16 years-old patient in Mishin village, Kolomiya district of Ivano-Frankivsk region died after an anesthesia at the district. Alliance of deceased accuse the dentist and ambulance doctors of her death. Kolomiya interdistrict prosecutor's office says that people should not promptly accuse doctors, though it stays unclear what investigation acts were carried out to establish the causes of death. "Everything will clear up after the results of the forensic - medical examination ..." said the Deputy Attorney of Kolomiya interdistrict prosecutor's office.5 It`s not difficult to guess how long it will take and what the conclusion of the examination will be.
They will say that the reason of death is individual feature of patient`s organism, anaphylactic shock. The same procedure exists in Russian Federation. A. Saverskyi, president of general Russian public organization “League of patient`s defenders” observes “In our country, even if the proceeding against doctor is instituted, the punishment doesn`t subsist”.6A.Saverskyi asks “So what should we do now—put cameras in every ward? It`s impossible”. We suggest that it possible and necessary. If there are cameras in classes, where the graduates pass state examinations, so why it is not possible to put them in the staffroom, operating rooms, intensive care departments.
Copying at exams is not as dangerous as violation by doctor of rules and methods of medical care. If there had been camera in the staffroom of hospital in Soroky city, Moldova, the doctor wouldn`t have gone at 1 a.m. to staffroom for rest, leaving patient with hard injuries without appropriate assistance. That`s why he was convicted.
Investigatory-judicial practice on the cases of medical crimes shows that at night time medical staff stays out of control and can behave with the patient as they wish. For example, disconnect the equipment of life support, etc.
The same happens at weekends, before holiday and holiday day, at birthdays of doctors and nurses. Without the Internet we would never have known that the head of Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care of Perm Cardiac Surgery Center A.V. beat the patient, tied to a couch, who had undergone heart surgery at March 2013. The patient died. The Head of clinic got to know about this on the 3rd of July at 2.35 p.m. and at 3.10 p.m. A.V. was dismissed.7 The doctor who beat a patient at resuscitation department of Perm hospital can be sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment.
Head physician of the clinic, Professor S. Sukhanov informed that video cameras were put in all resuscitation departments. But the control over video equipment is conducted by the heads of departments, A.V. was also a head of department that`s why he hid the information as long as he could (remark: the situation had place at February, but the authorities got to know about it only at July 2013).8Case in Perm caused many responses of Internet users who condemned A.V. and demanded for him the strictest punishment.
On the intensity these responses resembled public responses after the "doctors' case" of 1953. But then they were organized by the authorities, and now Internet users were not forced to the advance their opinion. We support the experience of Perm cardiac center of installing video cameras in resuscitation departments; we believe that they are necessary in other departments and wards. Experience is worth borrowing in hospitals of Republic of Moldova. Internet users, TV viewer and the republic's leaders were indignant when they got to know that in one of the children's hospitals in Chisinau operations were carried out with the use of the building drills.
Key words: crime prevention, general sociological prevention of crime, medical prophylactics, criminal persecution, examination, medical crimes, video cameras, control.
Reference list
1.Moskalenko V.F. (2011) Kontseptualnye podkhody k formyrovanyyu sovremennoy profylaktycheskoy stratehyy v zdravookhranenyy, ot profylaktyky medytsynskoy k profylaktyke sotsyalnoy. V.F. Moskalenko. M., HЭOTAR Medya.
2. Opredelenye Kollehyy po uholovnym delam Vysshey Sudebnoy Palaty RM po uholovnomu delu nr. 1 ch. 284-13 ot 12.03.2013.
3. Rossyyskaya krymynolohycheskaya entsyklopedyya. pod red. A.Y. Dolhovoy. M. Norma, 2000. 537–538.
4.Ruzhytska S. (2013) Fatalnyy vizyt do zubnoho S. Ruzhytska. Ekspres. 27 lypnya 1 serpnya.
5. Saverskyy A. (2013) Ostorozhno. Zloy vrach. A. Saverskyy. Arhumenty y fakty. 28.
6. Sukhanov S. (2003) Nelzya yzza odnoho otshchepentsa oblyvat hryazyu vsyu medytsynu. S. Sukhanov. Komsomol'skaya pravda. 8 yyulya.
7.Florya V. (2012) Kak ne nado rassledovat vrachebnыe prestuplenyya. V. Florya, D. Ostavchuk. Vostochnoevropeyskyy zhurnal obshchestvennoho zdorovya. 1. 77–79.
