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Court drops negligent death case against doctor

However, the injured parties will challenge the court's ruling
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, May 11 (Itar-Tass) — Moscow's Meshchansky court on Friday dropped the criminal case against Alexandra Artamonova, accused of causing death of an inmate in a remand ward by negligence, lawyer Vladimir Zherebyonkov, who represents the interests of Trifonova's son, told Itar-Tass.

"The court met the defense's petition and stopped criminal prosecution of Artamonova as the statute of limitations has run out," Zherebyonkov said.

"Artamonova de-facto agreed with the charges, but she will have no criminal conviction. The medic does not consider herself a culprit, yet she is ready for the case to be dropped as she "is tired and wishes this to end as soon as possible."

However, the injured parties will challenge the court's ruling. "We /the injured parties/ understand that Artamonova is tired of psychological pressure and is absolutely innocent, but we intend to make sure that the court reviews the criminal case and gives its opinion of the presented evidence; we'll also seek to ascertain the true culprits. Otherwise, it will turn out that Trifonova shoulders the blame for the other doctors, and we'll have no justice," the lawyer underlined.

In his opinion, it is the investigator who foot-dragged over her treatment until the last moment and the doctors of the remand prison who did not properly rinse the catheter set by Artamonova who are the true culprits.

The 32-year-old anaesthetist and resuscitation specialist of the hemodialysis and detoxication department, the M.F.Vladimirsky regional research institute /MONIKI/ was accused under Article 109, Part 2 of Russia’s Criminal Code /"causing death by negligence as a result of improper performance of one's professional duties"/. The article envisions a restriction of freedom or a jail term up to three years.

The investigator said Artamonova had performed a hemodialisys session on entrepreneur Vera Trifonova, but failed to remove the catheter set in the patient’s right thigh vein. "The doctors did not warn Trifonova about the risk of thrombophlebitis. The thromb that developed at the catheter place caused the patient's death a few days later," an official at the Investigative Committee /SK/ told Itar-Tass.

Vera Trifonova, 52, head of the KitElitNedvizhimost company, a defendant in a fraud case, died in a prison IT ward on December 16, 2009.

She was detained on December 16, 2009. The investigator claimed that Trifonova, together with third persons, had offered two bankers their assistance in securing seats for them at the Federation Council upper house of the Russian parliament for 1.5 million dollars.