Ternopil region to try 4 doctors who caused 18 patients to lose their eyesight
5 November 02:24
Four doctors will be tried in Ternopil region because 18 patients have lost their eyesight completely or partially. This was reported by the regional police and prosecutor’s office, Komersant ukrainskyi reports
According to the investigation, patients were given injections with a counterfeit drug.
From March 2022 to February 2023, three doctors of this medical institution administered the banned drug to patients on the instructions of the head of the department. Each of them unlawfully received from patients from UAH 8 to 34 thousand, demanding this money for the administration of the drug.
“As a result of this ‘treatment’, 18 patients suffered, 15 of them lost sight in one eye, 3 – in both eyes. Due to complications of the disease after the administration of the drug, 7 patients underwent eye surgery,” the prosecutor’s office said.
The police seized the drug and sent it for examination. As it turned out, the medicine was counterfeit, and the chemical composition did not match the original.
Due to the doctors’ unlawful actions, the state suffered damage worth almost UAH 900 thousand spent on the treatment of the victims.
As of today, two defendants have been released on bail in the amount of almost one million hryvnias, and two others have been released on personal recognizance.
“Prosecutors of the Ternopil Regional Prosecutor’s Office sent to court indictments in criminal proceedings against 3 doctors of the district hospital… and the head of the ophthalmology department,” the prosecutor’s office said.
The three ophthalmologists will be held liable under Part 1 of Article 140 (improper performance of professional duties by a medical professional) and Part 4 of Article 368-4 (obtaining an unlawful benefit for oneself, combined with extortion, by a person engaged in professional activities related to the provision of public services) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. They face up to eight years in prison.
The head of the department is charged with Part 2 of Article 367 (negligence in office, if it caused grave consequences) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The sanction of the article provides for imprisonment for a term of two to five years.
As the Express newspaper wrote in March 2023 , the case concerned the Chortkiv Central City Hospital. The patients were diagnosed with an inflammatory process of the inner lining of the eyeball – acute endophthalmitis. Some of them had to have their eyeballs removed.
