Moscow district attorney's office flouts Russia's Investigative Committee and appeals a controversial malpractice verdict

Moscow’s South-Western District Attorney’s Office is appealing the controversial verdict against hematologist Elena Misurina, who was recently sentenced to two years in prison for alleged malpractice.

In 2013, she took bone marrow and bone tissue samples from a person who suddenly died four days later. Dr. Misurina insists that she performed the procedure correctly and shouldn’t be held responsible for the patient’s death. The city’s district attorney is now asking an appellate court to throw out Misurina’s sentence and return the case to prosecutors.

According to the district attorney’s office, the verdict is based on contradictory medical expertise. The evidence, prosecutors say, isn’t conclusive of Misurina’s guilt and she should go free.

• On social media, fellow doctors have protested Misyurina’s sentence, writing posts with the hashtag “#iAmElenaMisyurina.” Moscow City Hall has also rallied to the doctor’s defense. Mayor Sergey Sobyanin even criticized the verdict on Twitter.
• A day later, Russia’s Investigative Committee fired back, publishing a special statement on January 30 that accused flashmobing doctors of second-guessing their own colleagues’ medical judgment, insofar as law enforcement relies on the expertise of doctors when prosecuting physicians for malpractice. The agency said it only opens investigations in roughly a third of all the cases it examines.