[lg policy] Estonian doctor denies aid to Russian patients

[Harold Schiffman]

Estonian doctor denies aid to Russian patients

TALLINN, October 31 (RIA Novosti) - A doctor in ex-Soviet Estonia's
capital Tallinn denied medical help to two Russian patients because
they could not speak Estonian, Estonian television reported on
Saturday. A patient named Dmitry came to see a surgeon in a Tallinn
hospital over a jaw injury on Friday, but the doctor demanded he speak
Estonian and refused to examine him otherwise. Dmitry's friend,
Yekaterina, who spoke Estonian, wanted to help, but the doctor called
both of them "swine" and said they should see a "psychiatrist"
instead. At the hospital's registration desk, the young people met
with another Russian-speaking patient of that doctor who told them a
similar story.

The patients said they would go to court if the hospital does not
punish the doctor. In televised comments, the Baltic state's social
affairs minister, Hanno Pevkur, said medical aid should not be mixed
up with a language exam and pledged to discuss the incidents with
hospital officials. This is not the first medical scandal involving
Russian speakers in Estonia, where a doctor has been fired from a
hospital for chucking the passport of a Russian patient into the
dustbin because the teenager couldn't speak Estonian. The story
received a lot of media attention. The Baltic state pursues a rather
controversial language policy that leads to tensions with a
substantial Russian minority, most of who have lived in the republic
since it was part of the Soviet Union. Tensions have a historical
background as Estonians see their Soviet past as the years of
occupation.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20091031/156661682.html

See also: Estonian pub refuses to serve Russian-speaking guests
http://en.rian.ru/world/20090423/121275115.html

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