Panosyan Susan

Biography

2025: Sentence - 5.5 years in prison for the deaths of two children

On May 26, 2025, the Koptevsky District Court of Moscow announced the verdict to two doctors of the capital's maternity hospital No. 27 in the case of the death of two children. Susan Panosyan received 5.5 years in a general regime colony, and Victoria Sapozhnikova was released from punishment due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

The court found both doctors guilty under Part 2 of Article 109 of the Criminal Code of Russia - causing death by negligence due to improper performance of professional duties. Panosyan was additionally found guilty under Articles 118 - causing grievous bodily harm by negligence, and 327 - forgery of documents. Sapozhnikov was sentenced to 2 years 10 months of restriction of freedom, but completely released from punishment.

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Фото: Freepik

The court partially satisfied the civil claims and ordered to pay compensation to the affected families of ₽5 million each for a total of ₽20 million. In relation to the doctor Elena Leshchinskaya and the head physician Marina Sarmosyan, the case was separated into a separate proceeding, which the court decided to return to the prosecutor for retraining to the article on negligence.

According to the investigation, the staff of maternity hospital No. 27 systematically used Christeller's reception banned all over the world - extruding the child through the natural birth canal. Doctors used this method out of unwillingness to carry out caesarean section operations. As a result of the dangerous practice, two newborns died, and the third child received a serious birth injury and became disabled for life.

The investigation established that Panosyan destroyed the medical documentation for all births with complications. After the initiation of a criminal case, the doctor stole the stories of childbirth, the further fate of which remains unknown. Investigations into other episodes of medical staff activities are ongoing.

Christeller's intake represents pressure on the upper part of the uterus to speed up the birth process. This method is banned in most countries of the world because of the high risk of injury for both mother and child. The use of such effects can lead to rupture of the uterus, internal bleeding, fractures of the ribs in the woman in labor and serious damage to the spine and brain in the newborn.^[1]

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