Lawlessness in Palliative Care: Disregard for Patients’ Dignity in Private Facilities
The situation with palliative care in Ukraine remains critically alarming and controversial.
Unfortunately, many private medical facilities offering palliative services show blatant neglect of ethics and patients’ rights.
Photos circulating on social media depict patients lying in common rooms without any partitions or screens, exposing their privacy and dignity to violations.
One image clearly displays a young man’s bare forehead with a catheter left uncovered, alongside a sarcastic message about care.
Moreover, numerous comments express gratitude and support for alleged ‘care for our boys’, ignoring the evident breaches of human decency and medical standards.
Relatives of patients often remain unaware of the extent of abuse and violations, but even those who realize the issues tend to stay silent because they are forced to choose between living in poverty or risking losing the last chance for assistance.
Meanwhile, the national system, according to the NHSU, provides some form of palliative assistance within contracted hospitals, yet in practice, patients face short stays—up to three weeks—after which they are forced to find new facilities or pay substantial sums in private or charitable clinics.
This leads to a vicious cycle: patients shuffle from one institution to another, losing precious time and deteriorating health, with costs primarily borne by their families—often just a mother working multiple jobs to ensure basic support.
Sadly, gruesome images of vulnerable patients often become tools for charity grants and crowdfunding, serving as exploited commodities to garner money while disregarding the rights of the suffering.
The question remains whether institutions and relatives are aware that such treatment infringes on patients’ rights and dignity.
An example is Yurik, who sustained severe injuries on the front line and is now in a private clinic with an appalling attitude: his condition publicized via videos, with funds raised under his name, yet his helpless state is used to generate revenue without his consent.
Meanwhile, systemic medical reforms are underway, but practices of neglect and ethical violations threaten to undermine the core of humanitarian medical care.