Defendants in case of fatal barium poisoning of patients at St. Petersburg KDC sentenced

The hearing took place on June 20. Medvedeva was banned from practicing medicine for 2.5 years, she partially admitted her guilt. Feofanova was given a similar restriction by the court decision, she does not admit her guilt. The convicts were taken into custody immediately after the verdict was announced.

Two more defendants - the former head physician of the center, Yevgeny Popov, and his deputy, Natalya Surovenko, serve as doctors in the special military operation zone. Their cases have been separated into separate proceedings. The case also involves the senior nurse of the KDC, Marina Efremova. In February 2022, it became known that she attempted to commit suicide, after which she is still in a coma.

The criminal case was opened in January 2022, initially under Part 3 of Article 109 (causing death by negligence) and Part 3 of Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (provision of services that do not meet the requirements for the safety of life and health of consumers). According to preliminary investigation data, from 2021 to 2022, eight people died after stomach examinations at KDC No. 1, and another 44 patients suffered harm to their health. It was noted that they drank a solution of barium sulfate as a contrast agent. Later, the articles of the Criminal Code were reclassified; there is no publicly available information on why and when this decision was made.

It was established that the patients drank Barium sulfate 0.10 (H2O)%, which the CDC purchased from the St. Petersburg company NevaReaktiv. Immediately after the information about the deaths appeared, the company presented the drug's passport, which stated that it complied with GOST.

Investigators found out that the criminal negligence of the KDC managers led to the fact that barium sulfate, which was not intended for these purposes, was used for the examination. During the investigation of the criminal case, more than 150 witnesses were questioned, more than 60 different examinations were conducted, including forensic and chemical ones.

The first defendant was the head physician of the medical institution, Yevgeny Popov. The Oktyabrsky District Court of St. Petersburg remanded him in custody in January 2022. In early February, Elena Medvedeva, Alexandra Feofanova, and Natalya Surovenko were placed in pretrial detention. Later, their preventive measure was changed to house arrest.

The investigation of the case was completed in July 2024. The parties' debates in the case took place in the Vyborg District Court of St. Petersburg in early June. At that time, the state prosecution requested 5 years in a general regime penal colony for Elena Medvedeva and Alexandra Feofanova.