“The goal is to help the child”: a Muscovite faces a criminal case for the purchase of psychotropic medication for the terminally ill son

Elena Bogolyubova was detained on July 16 in one of the metropolitan post offices, where a 43-year-old woman came for a package. Immediately after the arrest, she called the private children's hospice “House with a lighthouse”, where her incurably sick son is observed, and asked for help. As a result, the hospice turned to Nyute Federmesser, founder of the Vera hospice relief fund, and after her intervention late in the evening, Bogolyubov was released.

However, the package with the vital drug was nevertheless seized, and a criminal case under article 229.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - smuggling of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances will be initiated upon the fact of detention.

10-year-old son of Elena Bogolyubova Misha suffers from an incurable genetic disease - Batten's disease. A child cannot walk, talk, feeds through a gastrostoma, he is constantly tormented by violent convulsions.

On Wednesday, July 17, Bogolyubov was invited to the inquiry department of the Central Forensic Customs Administration of Moscow, where she brought all doctors' extracts and documents confirming that her son needed palliative care.

According to the woman, she did not know that Frizium was banned in Russia. Moreover, she stressed that her main goal was to save her son, and not to delve into the legal moments.

“Allegedly, the drug came from the wrong country, and there were found substances that are prohibited in our country. But I am not a pharmacist, I am a mother of a disabled child with many children. I can honestly say: I have not penetrated into any moments in terms of legal issues. That is, for me it was an official document that there are appointments, ”explained Bogolyubova.

• Muscovite faces criminal charges for the purchase of psychotropic drugs for the terminally ill son

According to her, neurologists of several different medical institutions independently recommended each other to Misha Frizium, who turned out to be the only drug that relieves the most severe seizures and does not give any side effects.

“There were drugs that were used for the child, but they did not give effect. Moreover, there were complications, like stomach bleeding, ”she said. - Yesterday (about the illegal status of the drug. - RT ) I was enlightened by customs officers. In fact, when a child dies with a mother and needs help, her only goal is to help the child, ”the woman said.

In January 2013, a nine-year-old daughter, Bogolyubova, suffered from a similar illness, due to severe convulsions.

“I did not know about this drug, and we could not stop the cramps. From December 21, 2012 to January 3, 2013, two weeks were practically in agony and epistatus, and she simply died in me, ”she recalls.

According to the Muscovite, she first ordered the "Frisium" and was sure that the package would come from Russia.

“Now I am more worried about the condition of the child. More worried about why the Ministry of Health, we can not provide this. Honestly, I will tell you: the mechanism of what happened is what worries me the least. Today is my son without a drug. I will call the neurologists, because we need to somehow stop, and what to stop? ”She shared the problem.

Bogolyubova added that the officers involved in her detention simply did their work.

“I am very grateful that they were delicate when they realized what was happening. I have more questions for the Ministry of Health about how our children can be provided with essential medicines, ”she said.

There was no recipe

The press service of the capital's head office has denied information about the participation of police officers in the detention of Bogolyubova. As RT head of the Media Relations Department of the Central Customs Administration of the Federal Customs Service of Russia Ekaterina Anchiporova explained, only capital customs officers took part in the detention of Bogolyubova.

“During the customs control, a package was found containing 400 tablets, which were sent for examination,” she told RT. - The drug contained clobaz, which is included in the list of substances approved for by the government, whose circulation is limited. In this regard, customs officers carried out operational search activities - a controlled delivery was organized. ”

According to Anchiporova, a Muscovite was detained due to her lack of a prescription for a potent psychotropic drug.

• © Photo from the personal archive of Elena Bogolyubova

“A woman said that these pills are necessary for her sick child. Her words were confirmed - the proxies of the woman provided the relevant documents. However, there was no prescription for this particular drug. There was only a recommendation of a consultation of doctors, - Anchiporova specified. - The legislation permits the transportation of such drugs, but for this to happen, there must be prescriptions with a dosage, a doctor's prescription. Everything is solved, but in this particular case there was no appointment. ”

According to the representative of the FCS, the tablets were withdrawn, and the materials of the operational-search activities are being prepared for transfer to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for making procedural decisions.

“Nothing human is alien to us, we understand and sympathize with everything, but we have a clear indication - a government decree that says that we are obliged to withdraw such preparations,” the customs service noted.

Thousands of needy

Lydia Moniava, director of the children's hospice House with a Lighthouse, told about the incident with Muscovite in social networks, since Bogolyubova’s son is their ward. During the day, her message was shared by more than 10,000 users.

“In the hospice we have a lawyer who has been involved in her affairs for all the years that the child has been registered with us - from 2016. We give Misha palliative care - this is the work of nurses, psychologists, and nannies, as well as the provision of consumables, in particular, nutrition for the gastrostomy, ”the hospice director said in a conversation with RT.

Moniava is surprised that law enforcement officers were not present at the place of detention of Bogolyubova.

“A lot of people were present there yesterday, so it’s strange to say that there was nothing,” said Moniava. - As I understood, two police officers approached my mother and said that the package had been arrested, and she was detained pending clarification of the circumstances. We did not look at their crusts. She was interrogated, examined the scene of the incident, and then the police officer went to the place of registration in the grandmother of Misha. ”

According to the head of the hospice, more than 2000 people need anticonvulsant drugs unregistered in Russia.

“A year ago, we made an independent register of those who need these drugs. There were more than two thousand such families - these are only those who entered and registered themselves. I assume that there are more. All they need is either “Freezium”, or “Sabril”, or “Diazepam” in microclysters, if one is not suitable, then another is prescribed, ”Moniava said.

As RT Director of Methodical Work at Home with a Lighthouse, Natalya Savva, explained, a year earlier, the Ministry of Healthcare of the Russian Federation received a list of unregistered, but life-saving products for palliative children, including Frizium, never appeared in Russia.

“They were not registered, because manufacturing firms refuse to register in Russia, because it is not commercially beneficial for them. As I understand it, besides Diazepam, we cannot manufacture these drugs. At this all stalled. But then let's think further about how to ensure patients are not in a one-off manner, but in a global way, ”Sawa suggests.

She also explained that at the moment provision of unregistered drugs is possible by decision of the federal council of doctors.

“Everyone refers to consultations as a mechanism by which we can deliver drugs to every child. Do not deliver, do not appoint, does not work, - the employee “Houses with a beacon” grieves. “They are not even sent to these federal councils, because the drug, for example, Frizium, is not registered, and it also refers to potent psychotropic drugs.”

According to Sawa, she is only aware of a couple of cases in which children receive the drug through individual purchases by the Ministry of Health. In the case of Elena Bogolyubova, there was not only a prescription for medication, but the consultation of the doctors themselves was not held.

“She was not taken to the federal council. I have to send a treating neurologist, who sees that the approved drugs do not work. But often his leadership recommends not prescribing unregistered drugs, Sawa explained. - In addition, if a child is in serious condition, he simply may not get to this consultation. After all, officials do not see the daily suffering of children, although the mechanism is prescribed and they must comply with it, but in the end it does not work. ”

The press service of the Ministry of Health could not promptly provide RT with a comment on the situation of Elena and Misha Bogolyubov. Earlier, the department informed RT that the government is working on the production of new forms of drugs that families with palliative children need, for example, children's non-invasive forms of narcotic painkillers, in particular Diazepam in microclysters and Midazolam buccal solution.