“I was a piece of meat”: survivors of the tragedy advise Kostomarov how to survive after amputation

REFERENCE “MK”

Euthanasia in Greek means an easy death. In Russia, it is equated with murder. On the other hand, Law No. 323-FZ “On the Basics of Protecting the Health of Citizens” gives the patient the right to refuse treatment. Countries with euthanasia: Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada and Spain.

“The patient must decide”

An absolutely healthy resident of Stavropol, lawyer Alexander Nagaev, has been legalizing the institution of euthanasia in Russia for the second year, on the way to which he went through almost all judicial instances. The other day, a lawyer turned to the Presidium of the Supreme Court, this is the penultimate stage of paperwork on his lawsuit “for the right to die” before the last instance – the Constitutional Court of Russia, in which he wants to challenge the 45th article of the law “On the Fundamentals of Protecting the Health of Citizens” as unconstitutional.

– Whether or not to use such a procedure as euthanasia, if you suddenly imagine that it becomes available with us, the patient himself must decide. But I can speak for myself. If fate had decreed that I would be an immobilized disabled person, for me euthanasia would be the light at the end of the tunnel. Today the law treats it as murder. I sincerely believe that until medicine has reached the level where it will be able to restore a person from the most difficult condition, then euthanasia should be regarded not as an absolute evil, but as a procedure of mercy and compassion for a terminally ill person. There are cases when people without limbs found themselves and led an active life. A prime example is Nick Vujicic.

Nagaev is 37 years old. He is married, the child is 9. He is fond of traveling and skiing. In his experience, the lawyer came across terminally ill patients. His own uncle suffered from oncology, but the disease proceeded so quickly that they did not even have time to think about euthanasia. At 67, the coronavirus took away his godmother, a cheerful woman. In the hospital, she had a stroke, for two weeks she lay in the state of a vegetable. It was impossible to cure her. Then Nagaev discussed the option of passive euthanasia with his family, they thought about disconnecting it from life support devices. She died two weeks later. Another case in Rostov: the patient was dying and begged to be disconnected from the life support apparatus, offering rings and jewelry for this. The nurses entered the position and disconnected from the apparatus, took the gold. The nurses were seated. The third case was in Pyatigorsk. Nagaev’s colleague killed his father, who was suffering from a disease, the son could not bear to look at the torment of his father. He decided to alleviate the suffering of his father, after which he was convicted of murder.

Why are you fighting for the right to voluntary death?

– If there is a right to life, why can’t the right to die be exercised? According to Article 20 of the Constitution, everyone has the right to life. A citizen may not use it – at his choice. There must also be a right to die in response, it cannot be taken away from a person, it will come sooner or later. The only thing that scares me is the thought that if I need euthanasia, I won’t be able to use it.

“We used to hide people with disabilities”

Lawyer Elena Volokhova was friends with Roman Kostomarov in her youth, they communicated in the same circle. More than 10 years ago, Elena lost her leg and arm in an accident, while she jumps with a parachute, practices karate, established two foundations, raised children, and now works with amputees, restoring their psyche. At 45, Volokhova insists on living in any condition.

– We should have a law on euthanasia for critical cases in a deplorable situation, when doctors decide that medicine is powerless – again with the consent of relatives. But to accept him against the backdrop of Roman’s tragedy – “Let’s kill him now. Why is he suffering? It’s all nonsense, you can’t argue like that.

– Where did you meet Kostomarov?

– With Romka, we were friends in our youth in the company of figure skaters, then somehow everyone parted, I got married for the second time, the children went. When I first found out about the tragedy, I wanted to come to him in Kommunarka, but my friends dissuaded me, they said they would not let anyone into the intensive care unit. They reassured me, they said he had money, he was in a good place, under reliable supervision. And I, of course, worry, because I know how hard it is to go through it mentally. And I don’t really see the horror in amputation. The main thing is that the body can survive and survive. People live with both stroke and heart attack. Sepsis is scary. Will the doctors do something about it, will he survive on his own? But here comes the third month, and I’m already worried. Sepsis is a very serious thing, doctors cannot pull it out in any way, put the blood in order so that there are no complications from sepsis.

While the brain and internal organs are working, while the body is fighting, it is alive! And you can’t argue like this, “that they are shredding him.” I read the comments and am horrified! People! What are you writing? Yes, let him be cut to pieces, if only he would live. Everything else is the power of the spirit. Romka has it, and he has many friends. And with the whole world we will help him get on his feet, on prostheses.

It’s not a problem that he survived amputations, the problem is – will Roman survive, will his body be able to work so that he lives? That is the question.

– Tell your story.

– I was a piece of meat with a torn off leg, all killed just in a mess, I was thrown out on the track. Apparently, the wheel burst, the car suffered, and I crashed into a pole, which instantly fell on the car. I was thrown out of the car. The leg was torn off. In such accidents, they really do not survive.

It was at night, there were few cars. Luckily, a man was following her along the road. Finding Elena, he dragged her to the side of the road, where he bandaged her leg with his belt, called an ambulance and left. More than 10 years have passed, and she has not been able to find her savior. She understands that only a trained person could perform such actions.

Elena woke up already in intensive care, where she lay under the strongest opioid painkillers for three months. The wildest pains, because the hand was rotten. She was cut off just in time. There was literally one day left: if the doctors had not gathered a council and decided to amputate her, Elena would have had a blood poisoning. After a while, an artery in her muscle cavity burst, from which she almost died, bleeding. But Elena’s internal organs remained intact.

– Yes, I have no arm and no leg, but this does not prevent me from living a full life, using a prosthesis. I am skydiving, twice silver medalist in para-karate, diving. The fact that a person does not have legs or arms does not mean that a person cannot live and rejoice.

Well, then Volokhova went to the podium. International fashion shows, fashion weeks in Moscow, and away we go: broadcast shooting. The Russian skydiving team invited her to the team, then – para-karate, diving.

– I passed all these projects through myself and understood how much they make it possible to live and understand that life did not end there. I didn’t have enough time. In the summer I wear shorts or a skirt, someone looks at me with surprise, admiration, smiles, and someone shies away from me like a leper. Therefore, you can not be equal to the comments of people.

Thoughts of leaving this life never crossed my mind. At the time of the accident I had two small children, 7 and 8 years old. It was hard, it was painful and scary. Of course I cried. It was scary to look at myself. From a tall, beautiful, long-haired girl in stilettos at 33, it is not clear what to turn into – into such a half with a shaved head, without an arm and without a leg. And then I didn’t have time to just think that something was bad. I pulled myself out of depression so much that now I help others. Confused people come to me in wheelchairs, without legs, without arms, and do not understand how to live on. I go to hospitals myself. People are already excited about it. I even talked to the President live on the eve of the Day of the Disabled on December 2.

You are loved not for your legs and arms, but for being a good person, for what you do in life, that you have a family, children. Relatives do not care if you have hands, the main thing is that you are. Previously, people with disabilities were hidden from us, but now they are no longer there – because we ourselves got out wherever possible. I pull out such people by my example – I take them to jump on parachutes and go diving. I show that life has not ended: the head is in place, the heart is there.

God! We have Dima Pavlenko – without both legs and arms. He drives a car himself, invented some devices for the car, fries barbecue. “They cut, cut, torture” – this is how those who can’t imagine the life of people with amputations argue. And God forbid they get into my situation or the situation of my friends guys who live without legs and arms. Some give up, of course.

– In what situations does a person who has become disabled not want to live?

“Five years ago I saved a young guy from despair. He lost both legs in an accident. He was brought to me for skydiving. Completely murdered man in 20 years. The girl immediately left him. The parents didn’t know what to do either. He didn’t want to live. I talked to him for an hour and a half, he was sitting in a wheelchair, crying, and I was crying. At first he refused to skydive. Then I persuaded him. After he jumped, he drove up to me in a wheelchair, cries, hugged me, and said: “I realized that I can do it.” A year later, this guy got on prostheses. He met me in the car, sat behind the wheel himself. And he said words of gratitude: “Thank you for supporting me at the right time in the right place.” There are many such stories.