English
Interregional Public Organization “Motherhood, Childhood and Family Protection” was founded on April 16, 2009 to cooperate with the state authorities in protection of the rights and interests of mothers, children and families. The Constitution guarantees the state protection of motherhood, childhood and family, but, unfortunately, nowadays the declarations stand apart from the real life.
PUBLIC INVESTIGATION
Elena Ermakova is an obstetrician, a midwife and a well known supporter of the home birth movement.
Elena, 41, has six children (the three youngest are 4 months, 2 and 5 years old).
Elena was accused of illegal medical practices when unfortunately one of her last deliveries ended in the death of the child in 2006, and she was imprisoned when she herself was 30 weeks pregnant, in St. Petersburg on March 30, 2009.
She is in jail where her son, her 6th child, was born in July. The expert reports all conclude that she was not guilty of malpractice and that all the problematic deliveries of her 17 year career were the results of pathological pregnancies. The additional forensic medical examination ordered following the victims’ petition gave the same conclusion. If the accused are guilty they have to be punished. But the court, when passing sentence, didn’t take into consideration the expert reports. Elena was sentenced to 5 ½ years prison and is appealing the decision while in jail.
GROSS ABUSE OF HUMAN RIGHTS
A PREGNANT OBSTETRICIAN AND A KNOWN PROPONENT OF HOME BIRTH WAS IMPRISONED AND TORTURED WITHOUT ANY CRIMINAL CONVICTION.
Elena Ermakova was accused of illegal medical practice and taken into custody following a judicial order while she was at a doctor’s office. The court hearings were ongoing and no legal verdict had been passed yet. Elena’s complaints about persistent abdominal cramps, increased blood pressure, and deteriorating health were considered as malingering and completely ignored.
A written statement from Elena saying that she was unwell and had to seek medical help was presented to the Judge by Elena’s husband and her attorney, but did not influence the court’s decision. Although Ermakova’s doctor insisted on her urgent hospitalization, the court’s order was not changed. She was accused of reluctance to attend the court hearings. Russian officials and state-controlled mass media supported the judge’s decision.
Elena was in a critical condition, in a prison, where proper prenatal care and diagnostic tests were unavailable. She was deprived of food and basic hygiene and had to share a dirty freezing cell with eight inmates, mostly drug-addicts infected with hepatitis or tuberculosis, who were continuously smoking. She was forcefully treated with obsolete medications and was threatened with being subjected to X-rays. In addition, Elena was verbally and physically abused by the prison’s staff and deprived of any communication with her family.
On May 13th, 2009 the court announced that there will be no sessions till the 3rd of July, 2009. Meanwhile, an additional forensic medical examination was ordered following the victims’ petition. Ermakova’s appeal to change her preventive punishment from imprisonment to a written undertaking not to leave the city was dismissed. As a matter of fact, Ermakova was doomed to give birth to her baby in prison, although she hadn’t yet been convicted, and her unborn child was innocent.
An imprisonment of a mother of many children, who is in her last month of pregnancy, is a direct threat not only to her life but also to the life of an unborn child. Such violation of human rights is taking place these days not only in Ermakova’s case, but in case of hundreds of other pregnant women awaiting courts’ decisions.
Elena and her brother were brought up by their grandmother. Despite all the hardships of her childhood and teenage years, Elena grew up strong and confident that she could change her life and help other people. Elena’s first profession was as a school teacher with a graduate degree with honors in Russian literature and language. Subsequently, she became a certified midwife graduating from a medical college with honors. Pursuing her passion for helping and educating pregnant women, she then entered medical school, again graduating with honors as a medical doctor, finished residency and was board certified in obstetrics.
