Colleagues have taken to social media in solidarity with a Moscow doctor who was sentenced in a high-profile case of medical error that led to a patient’s death.
Dr. Yelena Misyurina was handed two years in prison on Jan. 22 for malpractice over a botched biopsy in July 2013 that damaged a patient’s blood vessels and led to his death.
Russia’s Investigative Committee hit back at criticism from fellow doctors and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Tuesday, saying the critics “are in effect questioning the competence of their colleagues who had given expert opinions on this case,” the Meduza news website reported.
Instagram users flooded the platform with the hashtag #IAmYelenaMisyurina demanding for her release.
One of the first to post under the #IAmYelenaMisyurina hashtag condemned her conviction as “a verdict against Russian medicine.”
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov deferred comments to Moscow health officials and could not answer on Wednesday if the president would consider a letter signed in support of the convicted doctor, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported.
The head of the Kremlin’s human rights council later said it received an appeal to release Misyurina signed by 681 of her colleagues, the Interfax news agency reported.
Following a public outcry, the Moscow regional prosecutor’s office asked the court to reverse its ruling and release Misyurina on Wednesday.
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