Epress.am News from Armenia
On May 19, 2013, Shirakamut village, Lori Province, resident Lilit Nalbandyan fell into a coma after giving birth at the Vanadzor Medical Center and her situation has not changed to date. Criminal investigation in connection with the case has been underway for nearly 20 months; Nalbandyan’s husband and lawyer claim that the woman fell into a coma as a result of not receiving proper medical care from hospital staff and demand those guilty be held responsible.
Lilit Nalbandyan’s representative, lawyer Arayik Papikyan told Epress.am that in December 2014, the investigative body (investigator H. Hovsepyan) decided to terminate the criminal investigation of the case. The decision was appealed to the Lori Province Prosecutor's Office, where prosecutor V. Dolmazyan rejected the lawyer’s motion. Nevertheless, the decision was appealed to the Lori Province Court of First Instance, where on March 17, 2015, the presiding Judge Suren Baghdasaryan also rejected the lawyer’s suit. Currently, the plaintiff’s side is preparing to appeal to the Court of Appeals.
According to Papikyan, the rejection of the motions and appeals is not surprising; its a defective work style and a sad tradition. The lawyer stressed that the forensic examination has proved that Lilit did not receive proper medical care, but, nevertheless, the criminal investigation was still terminated.
“Neither the prosecutor, nor the court noticed that the main parttakers, the medical staff, gave different and contradictory testimonies during the preliminary investigation, while some of them “privileged” or “immune” and were not questioned at all. For example, when the court asked the investigator why the Erebuni Medical Center’s Head Health Practitioner was not questioned, the investigator answered that he went to question him, but the practitioner was not there that day. This answer was sufficient for the court, despite the fact the preliminary investigation did not last one day but about 570 days,” said Arayik Papikyan.
The lawyer noted that a civil suit demanding financial compensation for Lilit Nalbandyan's case is still in process and currently at the Court of Cassation. Nalbandyan’s side had won in the first two courts. Epress.am was told by Nalbandyan’s husband Artak Barseghyan (pictured) that his rights are being limited by different officials “mixing in” in the case.
“It feels like everyone has one objective, to hurt Lilit, me and our child. I’ve been recognized as Lilit’s caretaker. When the civil suit began, the Lori Governor, the doctor’s lawyer, a few workers from the Governor’s office forced the Shirakamut village mayor to overturn the decision and he did out of fear. Then I was recognized guardian again and once again the Lori Governor forced the village mayor to overturn the decision, because if a guardian doesn’t exist then no one would be able to defend Lilit’s rights in court, and my wife is in a coma, so naturally she can’t go to court. Now I’m fighting again to be recognized as guardian. The governor’s office tells me that they can’t let me receive compensation from the hospital. I also know that the Ministry of Health is putting pressure. For a long time, I didn’t want to speak to the media with the hope that the investigator, prosecutor, the court, hospital, governor’s office or another parttaker would take that fact into consideration and show the appropriate attitude. But now I feel that they are either interested in the money or their position,” said Barseghyan.