Odrex clinic doctor Vitaliy Rusakov, who is being tried for medical negligence that could have cost businessman Adnan Kivan his life, seems to have discovered a talent for prophecy. In his social networks, he predicts the collapse of all Ukrainian medicine if the court dares to issue a guilty verdict against him. Is there a limit to manipulation and why does the attempt to pin a criminal case of one doctor on the entire field look comical, read in the UNN material.
When an ordinary mortal is tried under Article 140 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (improper performance of professional duties), he usually hires lawyers. When it comes to Vitaliy Rusakov, a doctor at the private Odrex clinic, heavy artillery is additionally used: a YouTube channel, "support groups" with Whatman paper, and apocalyptic predictions that should have shaken the walls of the Ministry of Health.
The essence of Rusakov's "theory of global conspiracy" is simple: in his video on YouTube, he states that if he is found guilty of medical negligence that caused the patient's death, then there will be no one in Ukraine to treat seriously ill patients. Allegedly, doctors will be so afraid of the "precedent" that they will massively begin to refuse "difficult" patients.
It may seem that Rusakov is trying to "sell" his criminal case to society not as a review of his possible mistakes in treatment, but as a crusade against doctors.
"Opponents want to create a precedent... all medical workers will simply refuse treatment," he states in his vlog, in an attempt to substitute the concept of "responsibility for a mistake" with "a precedent that will destroy the healthcare system."
This looks comical, the reader may get the impression that Rusakov wants everyone to believe that if he is not acquitted, tomorrow no doctor in this country will approach a patient with a tumor or aortic dissection, for example.
But lawyers only throw up their hands at such "creativity." Lawyer Dmytro Kasianenko, in a comment for UNN, noted that criminal law is not about "the system," but about a specific person. Statements about the collapse of medicine are pure emotional pressure.
"In Ukraine, there is no norm according to which a verdict against one doctor automatically changes the rules for all others. The court considers a specific case regarding a specific person. Legal conclusions for practice are formed primarily in the positions of the Supreme Court, and not in a separate verdict. Therefore, talks about a "catastrophe for all medicine" are emotional pressure, not a legal position. If the investigation and the court prove a causal link between the actions or inaction of a specific doctor and the consequences, he or other persons whose guilt is proven are responsible," Kasianenko explained.
In addition, international experience shows that in Western countries, trials of doctors are not "the end of medicine," but a so-called hygienic process that makes the system safer. As Valeria Odintsova, a lawyer and founder of LLC "Legal Company "LOGIC," noted, in the USA, Germany, and Britain, lawsuits against doctors are commonplace. Moreover, it is precisely through such processes that medicine gets rid of incompetence and improves protocols.
"Judicial precedents form the practical implementation of the application of medical protocols or determine the consequences of their violations in specific cases. In turn, the recognition of cases of medical negligence and the effective protection of the interests of the injured patient ensure a fair assessment of the actions of the healthcare system and the accessibility of information," Odintsova believes.
That is, where the scandalous doctor sees "the end of medicine," the whole world sees "work on mistakes." The attempt to present an ordinary trial as an attack on the profession looks like a bad theatrical production where the main character overacts too much.
Recall
In the case of Adnan Kivan's death, Odrex surgeon Vitaliy Rusakov and already dismissed oncologist Maryna Bielotserkovska are in the dock. According to the investigation, after the operation at the Odrex clinic, the doctors did not prescribe the patient the necessary antibacterial therapy and did not properly respond to complications. As a result, sepsis developed, which, according to expert conclusions, could have caused Adnan Kivan's death.
In the context of the high-profile case, not only Rusakov's statements but also his behavior during court hearings attract attention. The doctor regularly calls on colleagues and "concerned" people to come to court – after which "support groups" with hand-drawn posters in his honor appear in the hall. Such activity may be more like an attempt to pressure the court, and in particular, the presiding judge Larysa Pereverzieva, rather than support for the doctor.