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- Mar 14, 2007
I wouldn’t expect there are such laws.
Roman Kostomarov recovering after hospitalization
- Thread starter CoyoteChris
- Start date
Oh no
The last article regarding his kidneys/lungs was that they were improving (link below), however the articles will make your head spin - its all unnamed sources and for the most part it seems that shortly after there's an article saying something has regressed there is a new article that he's been stabilized. While its pretty clear he's seriously ill, hopefully its not as bad as what's being reported.
Article from 16th
Well I'm not in Russia but it seems quite frequent that there are pictures of skaters at outside rinks with snow on the ground doing demonstrations and then master classes. According to Google the average temperature in January in Moscow is -4.0°C (24.8°F).
Sorry, I’m not an expert on privacy laws (I don’t know how they work in Western countries) and I’m not even an expert on Russian laws. Yet I hope you understand that when the USSR was ruined, Russia turned into a country which had to survive (as far as I know bandits started to control almost every business in the country, many people didn’t get their salaries, later many people did get their salaries without paying taxes and etc.). I mean our politicians had many other burning issues in this enormous country, when some other countries could afford polishing their privacy laws.
Excuse me, if my words would be wrong, but as far as I remember the Princess Diana died because some wild journalists had been following her. It happened in so called “civilized” country, right? Excuse me.
I really dislike the situation around Roman’s family now, but I can’t blame my country for that, even if our laws are not good enough.
Some headlines of the articles are even nasty. Some journalists are really shameless. I think maybe it is bad that I read some of the articles (that I click on them). I do read some of them, but I think it’s better not to repost them (at least, now, when they post negative things). Roman’s mother said that the family isn’t going to tell about Roman’s health now. Earlier his wife had said the same.
I think it's interesting that the audience was ok with it. -13F is really quite cold. But we don't know what contributed to his illness.
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2022
I think the post was simply asking a question about the law in a country where they didn't know they situation. No need to immediately feel nationally offended. Of course paparazzi and journalists not respecting privacy are a problem all over the world.
These kind of laws are different in the different European countries anyway.
- Joined
- May 27, 2021
Medical workers and any staff of health facilities are prohibited from disclosing any information about state of health and other information obtained during medical examination and treatment. Of course, except in special cases, but media certainly doesn't apply to them.
As for this situation, most likely journalists are rewriting the rumors that are circulating in the small figure skating world. In general, most of the news about Russian figure skating are from unnamed sources.
As for this situation, most likely journalists are rewriting the rumors that are circulating in the small figure skating world. In general, most of the news about Russian figure skating are from unnamed sources.
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2017
Those kinds of laws do give hospital employees a solid shield to hide behind- ‘I can’t talk to you because I don’t want to lose my job’ is something that doesn’t get a ton of pushback from even the most persistent tabloids.
But even in ICU areas, there can be plenty of people in that hospital wing who are not employees who might overhear little bits and pieces of things.
In Canada, privacy laws apply to anyone who works in medical settings, even non-medical staff (like kitchen and maintenance workers) and volunteers. But they do not apply to casual people who may see or overhear things, like visitors or other patients or visitors of other patients.
Once when I was being admitted to the hospital, they asked at admittance whether I wanted to be anonymous; this meant not telling anyone who called the switchboard that I was a patient there. By the time they asked, I had already seen someone I knew in the lobby, so I said "no". Of course, the person I saw was in the process of getting his wife admitted, and he had no interest whatsoever in me or my medical problems.
Years ago, they used to call patients from waiting rooms (for appointments, tests, etc) by honorific and last name (Mrs. Smith, Mr. Jones). Now, for the sake of privacy, they use first names. As if you're not going to recognize your next door neighbor if they are seeing the same doctor at nearly the same time you are! There can easily be mixups when they use first names. Lasttime I was in the eye doctor's office, there were only three patients and two of us had the same first name! They usually verify last name and date of birth as soon as they get you behind closed doors, but sometimes they go a bit further than that before they realize they have the wrong person.
In medical cases that attract media attention, the family often designates one family member or close friend to speak to the media. It's usually someone who is close to the patient, but not too close (an uncle or cousin rather than a spouse, parent, or child). That way the family can decide together on what to say to the media, but allow the closest family members to avoid talking to them. I think this is a wise strategy.
Once when I was being admitted to the hospital, they asked at admittance whether I wanted to be anonymous; this meant not telling anyone who called the switchboard that I was a patient there. By the time they asked, I had already seen someone I knew in the lobby, so I said "no". Of course, the person I saw was in the process of getting his wife admitted, and he had no interest whatsoever in me or my medical problems.
Years ago, they used to call patients from waiting rooms (for appointments, tests, etc) by honorific and last name (Mrs. Smith, Mr. Jones). Now, for the sake of privacy, they use first names. As if you're not going to recognize your next door neighbor if they are seeing the same doctor at nearly the same time you are! There can easily be mixups when they use first names. Lasttime I was in the eye doctor's office, there were only three patients and two of us had the same first name! They usually verify last name and date of birth as soon as they get you behind closed doors, but sometimes they go a bit further than that before they realize they have the wrong person.
In medical cases that attract media attention, the family often designates one family member or close friend to speak to the media. It's usually someone who is close to the patient, but not too close (an uncle or cousin rather than a spouse, parent, or child). That way the family can decide together on what to say to the media, but allow the closest family members to avoid talking to them. I think this is a wise strategy.
As far as I can see from the replies, the privacy laws which people here mean, are about staff of hospitals too, not about journalists.
I think shameless journalists is the biggest part of the issue in this situation.
I won’t be surprised, if a nurse in a Russian hospital isn’t afraid to lose her job (if it is only about losing one’s job). I won’t be surprised, if nurses don’t get big salaries even in that good hospital where Roman is. I won’t be surprised, if many Moscow hospitals would be happy to take a new nurse, even if she lost her previous job because of violation of privacy.
As for journalists, I hope it is possible to accuse them for psychological damage in such a case or for something like that (I’m not a lawyer). Yet maybe Roman’s family won’t do it. I understand that they have other things to do.
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Umm, what do you mean by this?
I would rather die than put myself and family through this knowing what is ahead. He's being made to suffer unnecessarily at this point with little prospect for survival, and if he does survive he will be severely disabled. That's just me. You might feel differently about life.
Well that's a heavy and individual call to make. I have reservations that some of the "reports" are accurate they've for the most part (that I've seen) been unnamed sources and sometimes within a few hours its reported he's improved or the report gets thrown into question by a family member. Even if they are all true... some reports have said he's awake so maybe capable of being able to voice an opinion on what's happening or perhaps he and his wife have previously had conversations about medical care should 1 of them be incapacitated, per 1 of the prior pages he has 2 young kids, they probably play a pretty big factor in continued fighting to survive so he can still be there for his kids.
*PSA, regardless of age if possible have someone in your life or legal documentation stating your position on what type of extraordinary measures should be taken to save your life and you aren't able to vocalize your wishes, if anything it can give your loved ones a bit of comfort knowing what you want if they do have to make a tough decision.
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2017
Many years ago, a friend on another message board that was a doctor had a really good ‘if/then’ flow chart covering different health conditions you could use as part of your advance decree documents. I wish I’d saved a copy of it because it had a lot of helpful nuance to it that‘s not often talked about.
I agree that is pretty heavy judgement call to make. I think that most people even if they have a major disability would rather be alive than dead. The biggest issue is that the public do not know how bad it is. I mean every time there has been discussions on whether some body part has been amputated his mother has basically contradicted the reports in many cases. It could be that one or both feet have been removed. If so that is something that can be overcome because there are prosthetics.that can be adapted so he can skate in some capacity. I think that he was getting to an age where skating in shows was going to stop being how he would make a living anyway. I really think I'd he can get through this that he should go into coaching. It is something he can really be good at and it would be connected in a way to sport he loves. The most important is for him to get stronger and better and I think if we could get a straight story on what is going on here. I heard stories that state he has not hands or feet and no know that except his doctors and family. So to stop the feeding frenzy just release a statement on his status instead of the what is happening now which is rumors and secret sources and exaggerations. Because I not can imagine what this doing to his poor children who every day have to read headlines about their father health that may be flat out wrong . So please stop and please someone just is the truth here.
No one has to be subjected to endless "treatments" when the end result is going to be extreme disability or extensive brain damage. Anyone who wants to avoid such an outcome has only to make in advance a LIVING WILL which sets forth the conditions for limiting the extent of medical intervention. This should be filed with the primary physician as well as the immediate family, and should be given to the hospital prior to admission.
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- Aug 9, 2016
My mother also had a fatal stroke last year and she came back home to stay with her family after 5 months in the hospital. I took care of her for 5 months with the help of the visiting nurse service, knowing that she had only 6 months to live at most. It was worth the effort. No matter what happens to him during hospitalization, his family would do the same to Kostomarov. Kostomarov is suffering from a series of complications after the initial stroke and it is painful to read what has been done to him.
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- Joined
- Apr 23, 2018
Maybe so, but that is a decision for him to make unless or until fate takes it out of everyone's hands. And as I understand it, he's not able to do so at the minute? And I can say right now that I agree where my own life is concerned, but if it ever came to... would I do so then? - I am not brave and I don't know.
His family are doing what they believe is right for him. Let's not second-guess them.
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