Russian Doctor Punching Heart Patient Caught On Surveillance Video
A Russian doctor who punched a patient who was recovering from heart bypass surgery is under investigation.
As shown on a surveillance video, the doctor socks the bedridden man in the face and then incredibly drives his fist into the heart patient’s chest shortly after the surgery. The patient who was in the ICU at the time reportedly died about a week later. The incident occurred in Russia at the Federal Cardo-Surgery Center in the Urals city of Perm.
The physician with an extremely unusual bedside manner was fired after the February incident in which he punched the patient strapped into a hospital bed but a criminal probe is underway now that the newly uploaded video has gone viral.
According to the London Telegraph, “The video shows [the doctor] identified as Andrei Votyakov talking animatedly to the patient, who wears an oxygen mask and has his arms and legs fastened to the bed. Mr. Votyakov then punches the patient in the face before bringing his fist down heavily on the victim’s chest.”
Dr. Votyakov claimed he was exhausted after working a 36-hour shift and lost his temper when the patient started peppering him with insults. Sky News offers an explanation from the anesthesiologist: “As soon as I came into the room with my team he started to call me various derogative names. And I just got blown away by it. We had spent so much time with his very complicated case to help him recover and he said not a single word of gratitude. And then the chronic tiredness added to it. I got carried away, and I punched him several times.”
The anesthesiologist, who denies having anything to do with the patient’s death, said he apologized to the deceased man’s parents for his behavior. The exact cause of death of the heart bypass patient has apparently yet to be determined, however.
