"Together our voices are stronger": families of the deceased and former patients of the scandalous clinic launched the Stop Odrex website

Every day I learn new stories of people going through the same pain as us. To ensure that no one else is left alone with their trouble, we have created a website where every victim can tell their story – anonymously or openly. This is a place where you will be heard. Visit the website, read the stories of other victims, follow the news about the clinic and the progress of criminal cases, and share your stories. This is a space for us – for those who have experienced tragedy because of Odrex, for those who need support and truth. We believe that only together can we achieve justice.

In their fight for justice, Ukrainians who consider themselves victims of Odrex recorded a video appeal to law enforcement and authorities. They ask to pay attention to the systematic and repetitive nature of errors in the private Odesa clinic, tell their own blood-curdling stories, and call for preventing new victims of Odrex.

The story of Krystyna Totkailo's father's death

Kyivan Krystyna Totkailo learned about her father's cancer diagnosis and turned to "Feofaniya". The medical council concluded that aggressive chemotherapy was contraindicated before surgery. However, surgeon Ihor Bielotserkovskyi, who was also on the council, suggested treatment at Odesa's "Odrex", where his wife, oncologist Maryna Bielotserkovska, works. He assured the desperate daughter that at the Odesa clinic, her father's "larynx and voice would be saved." Before the trip, the family was forced to pay for the consultation in advance, without an examination, which already raised doubts.

At "Odrex", the father was prescribed a five-day course of aggressive chemotherapy, and a second one was immediately planned. The man had a gastrostomy installed, which required daily care, but, according to Krystyna, doctors practically did not examine it. By the time of discharge, there was already a through hole at the installation site, through which food leaked.

After returning to Kyiv, the father's condition sharply deteriorated: kidneys failed, and an ulcer appeared in his mouth. In response to reports of critical symptoms, the doctor from "Odrex" replied that it was a day off, all questions – on Monday. The family paid more than 250,000 hryvnias, but the father died. Krystyna is convinced that the prescription of aggressive chemotherapy, contrary to the recommendations of other doctors, was a fatal mistake by "Odrex".

The story of Olha Melai's husband's death

The story of the Melai family is similar to that of Krystyna Totkailo's father. Olha Melai's husband was treated at the Odesa private clinic Odrex with a diagnosis of B-cell lymphoma. He was undergoing chemotherapy when the clinic offered to install a special subcutaneous port for easy drug administration. The procedure was supposed to last half an hour under local anesthesia. As "Odrex" itself advertises on its official website, this is a minimally invasive, safe, outpatient operation that takes less than 45 minutes.

However, everything did not happen as promised by the clinic. The husband was taken to the operating room, but he did not come out of it in half an hour, or even in two. Olha waited under the door for almost three hours, receiving no explanations from the doctors. When the surgeons came out, they confidently stated: "Everything went successfully, your husband is starting a new life." But instead of a new life, the patient ended up in intensive care – in critical condition.

Olha recalls that when she first saw her husband, he could not breathe on his own, his kidneys had failed, and the monitor by the bed was black: no pulse, no saturation, only a recorded body temperature – 33 degrees. The doctors sharply changed their rhetoric and said that he might not survive until morning. On the very first day, five liters of fluid were drained from the patient's chest.

To Olha's question about why general anesthesia was used instead of the promised local anesthesia, the doctors only made excuses: "We know better what anesthesia to use for the patient." After three days in intensive care, the husband began to slowly stabilize. And at this very moment, despite the critical condition he had experienced, "Odrex" decided to continue the course of chemotherapy. After another administration of "chemo," the clinic itself refused to continue treatment because the patient's condition was rapidly deteriorating.

"New life" never began, Olha's husband died. The woman is convinced that the clinic concealed her husband's cardiac arrest, which could have occurred during the operation. After all, the sharp deterioration of his condition and the significantly increased operating time may indicate that something critical could have happened during its performance. The wife of the deceased patient is convinced that the continuation of chemotherapy was another fatal mistake of the Odrex clinic.

The real shock came when Olha received the anamnesis – medical discharge documents for the patient. There was no mention of the operation: neither the intervention, nor the anesthesia, nor the complications, nor kidney failure, nor the reasons for resuscitation. Only one line: "Port installed." Without description, without performers, without consequences.

Olha Melai is preparing for the first court hearing in the case of medical negligence which, in her opinion, took her husband's life. The woman claims falsification of medical documents at the "Odrex" clinic, delayed diagnosis of the disease, and medical decisions that could have been fatal.

Documentary film "Wasp's Nest"

Even more tragic stories related to treatment at "Odrex" are shown in the documentary "Wasp's Nest". Patients and relatives of those who died after treatment at the clinic, regardless of the diagnosis, tell of the same scenario: first – optimistic promises, then – sudden "complications", increased bills, pressure, demands, and threats from the clinic's administration.

Thus, Svitlana Huk describes how, after the operation, her husband was on the verge of life and death, and his care turned into endless bills. The woman claims that the clinic kept her husband's body on life support even after clinical death, trying to increase the payment for his stay in the hospital. And the clinic also sued her after she could not pay.

"Together our voices sound stronger"

The victims and their families emphasize: they do not seek revenge, but demand truth and accountability. Their main goal is to stop new tragedies and prevent others from going through the same tragic path.

And the more people dare to speak out, the more obvious it becomes: the problem may extend far beyond individual medical errors. They are convinced that it may be about a systemic approach to doing business in the "Odrex" clinic. Where, in their opinion, the main value is not human life and quality medical care, but the amount of money earned.