A Russian female police officer, who was diagnosed with novel Coronavirus, committed suicide, as she fell from a window of the hospital where she was admitted. The 45-year-old Russian woman, Natalya Shcherbakova fell 50ft to her death during her treatment at a hospital.
This incident reminds the previous cases of three Russian doctors, Dr. Yelena Nepomnyashchaya, Dr. Natalya Lebedeva, and Dr. Alexander Shulepov, who fell to their deaths from their hospital windows in a span of 10 days. Two of them died because of the injuries, while Shulepov, 37, remains in hospital with head injuries after plunging from a second-floor window sustaining skull fractures.
Now, Shcherbakova's family claims that a drug may have made her suicidal. Is this the reason behind all these mysterious deaths in Russia?
Who was Natalya Shcherbakova?
Shcherbakova was an officer in the Moscow police who died after plunging from the hospital floor on May 31.
After her funeral, which took place last week, her family, including widower Konstantin, 61, and their twin daughters aged 19, are seeking urgent answers from authorities about Shcherbakova's death. As the family claimed, the Russian woman's death may have been caused by an antibiotic that she was given before her suicide.
She was taken to the hospital after falling ill with suspected COVID-19 and her case was not considered life-threatening, while doctors measured her blood oxygen saturation at 91 percent -- a normal reading is between 95 and 100 percent.
"A scan showed that her lungs were between 50 and 60 percent affected. She felt better in the hospital because she was given antibiotics and oxygen via nose pipes," revealed a source to Daily Mail.
But, three days later her family was told by a forensic expert that her condition is not good, and "her mood was going downhill." Later, when one of her daughters expressed concern over her mood swings, the doctors continued to say that she is out of danger. "She is completely fine, are you mad?" the medic said.
The day Shcherbakova committed suicide
On May 31, at around 7.44 PM she told her family that she was being put up on a drip which should have taken two hours. Later, at around 11 pm her husband received a call and was informed about her suicide. The report claimed that happily married, Shcherbakova died soon afterward despite their attempts to save her.
The family was told that she was being treated with antibiotic Levofloxacin, which can be used to treat pneumonia. But in rare cases, the powerful medication can interfere with the nervous system and cause serious psychological side effects, including hallucinations, paranoia, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts.
The use of such medication on a patient who had a medical history of mental issues could be extremely risky. As per Shcherbakova's relatives, medics found traces of an unknown antidepressant in her system that indicates she had suffered from mental health issues.
Now her family fears that the combination of medication she received could have caused the sudden change of her mood which led to her fall. Her family intends to sue the hospital and protest to the Russian Interior Ministry that she and her colleagues were not isolated when Coronavirus first appeared in her office.
