LENNAUCHFILM 1973
THE FILMMAKERS HAVE AGREED TO RESPECT MEDICAL CONFIDENTIALITY
AND TO NOT REVEAL PATIENTS' NAMES UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE
IN THIS REPORT WITH NO "HERO"
REPORT WITH NO "HERO"
We are going to film this medical office for a few weeks.
This is the office
of Drs. Anastasia Petrovna Tikhonova
and Evgeny Ionovitch Medvedovsky.
Come in.
Sit down.
What seems to be the problem?
I don't even know how to say it.
Well, Doctor,
it hurts to pee.
What do you mean?
Be precise, don't be shy.
It hurts a lot and...
It feels like burning, cutting.
Have you noticed purulent discharge before urinating?
I don't think so.
- Good. - Yes.
Get undressed behind the screen. I'm going to examine you.
What is it, Doctor?
Gonorrhea, I think. We'll know after we run tests.
- The clap? - That's another name for it.
Let's talk.
How long have you felt discomfort when urinating?
How long?
3 days.
And you're only coming today?
You know, I thought it'd go away,
by itself.
After my trip, I had to take care of the paperwork and the truck.
I'm a truck driver.
Tell me, are you married?
- I am. - Married.
Is your wife currently in town?
Of course, she is.
Have you had sexual intercourse with her since you came back?
You bet I have.
After I came back.
Did you sleep with other women during your trip?
I did.
You did. When was it exactly? Tell me the date.
Thank you.
I was right, you have a gonococcus.
- The clap? - Gonorrhea.
She was a pretty woman, well-dressed. I met her...
Calm down, please.
Tell me about that encounter. Control yourself.
When was it? Where? And with whom?
- On the 11th. - The 11th, OK.
- There. - She was hitch-hiking.
Please, tell me her name,
address and all you know about her.
I know nothing about her. Why all the questions?
We need to find her, it's the law.
We need to find her and examine her.
She infected you. She might infect other men.
I can't remember anything, at all.
Here's what happened:
the weather was hot, we stopped for a dip in a river.
She said her name was Tatiana.
Say, can you remember what she looked like?
She was well-dressed.
With fleshy lips.
Can you remember anything else?
Be more precise.
Height, hair colour. Was she fat or thin?
Maybe she had a mole on a cheek?
Distinctive signs to make it easier to find her.
I don't know. She's pretty. Is she sick? And she goes around...
You criticize her but you're no better.
How long were you together?
For 100 km.
See, it was hot. The river...
It isn't the river's fault.
Did you sleep with other women than that Tatiana?
What about my wife?
What will happen to her?
- Maybe she wasn't infected? - It's very unlikely.
We need to summon her and examine her.
If she's sick, she needs to be treated.
She'll never forgive me.
Let him go where he wants.
But not my house.
How old is your daughter?
5.
- Do you have a bathroom? - Yes.
We have all amenities.
Why?
You have to bring your daughter here.
- We need to examine her. - She's just a child.
You bathe her.
You probably share the same sponge.
Can you be infected that way?
It's possible. And if she shares your bed too.
Water, please.
Have a little water.
Calm down, please.
You and your daughter, if she's infected, will be cured.
You're at the beginning of the illness.
Can you believe it?
How could she do it?
Knowing she's sick and...
Maybe she doesn't know.
How can we know if I am sick?
You haven't had any symptoms recently?
And then?
You probably will.
Gonorrhea attacks the whole body.
If it is not or badly treated,
there can be complications on internal genital organs:
the uterus, Fallopian tubes and ovaries.
You'll experience abdominal pain, bleeding, etc.
I repeat: gonorrhea attacks the whole body.
It can cause severe complications:
miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies,
and incurable infertility.
Is this about children?
Do you think I want any? Well, I don't.
- You're trying to scare me. - I'm not.
I'm warning you: you have gonorrhea.
You must undergo strict, long treatment in hospital.
Come on, Doctor, in hospital?
They say it's more easily cured than the flu.
You're wrong.
Such advanced gonorrhea is hard to cure.
I have to read to you the decree of the USSR Supreme Soviet Presidium
from October 1st, 1971.
Listen carefully. You may ask questions.
Very well.
Knowingly exposing someone
to venereal disease during intercourse, sexual or other,
carries a prison sentence of up to 2 years,
correctional work up to 1 year
or a 100 rouble fine.
Contamination of others by a venereal disease,
by someone who knows they are infected,
carries a prison sentence of up to 3 years,
correctional work up to 1 year.
The acts referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article,
perpetrated by a person
convicted for infecting another with venereal disease
or for having infected 2 persons or more,
or a minor
carry a prison sentence of up to 5 years,
Do you understand?
I do.
You are required to undergo treatment.
Avoiding the treatment of venereal disease
after being warned by health authorities
carries a prison sentence of up to 2 years,
correctional work up to 1 year
or a 100 rouble fine.
Is that clear?
- Yes. - All is clear.
Please sign that you have read the decree.
Doctor, how long does this prohibition last?
Until you're cured.
Now, let's retrace the story of your contamination.
Your blood test from last week showed that you have syphilis.
I was to go with the construction team.
We had check-ups. We all had tests and...
Please, tell me...
How often do you have intimate relationships with women?
- Well... - You aren't married.
No, not yet.
I need to finish university first, in a year and a half.
When did you last have intercourse with a woman?
During the winter holidays.
In February.
So, 3 months ago.
Yes.
And 3 or 4 weeks after that encounter,
did you notice anything?
No, I didn't have anything.
Did you have a small ulcer on your genitals?
No, nothing. It didn't even hurt.
A primary ulcer usually doesn't hurt,
and disappears by itself.
No, I had absolutely nothing.
At all.
Tell me...
Were you ill then?
I had the flu, like everybody else.
- In February? - Yes.
Did you treat it?
I took all my medicine. Like the whole dorm.
Did you take antibiotics?
So what? I had a fever.
So you may have missed
the chancre.
The what?
A chancre, it's that kind of ulcer.
It generally appears on the genitals,
but sometimes also on other body parts.
No, actually,
I had something,
something like this but it was nothing.
So there was something?
- Well... - It wasn't nothing.
It was a chancre.
The antibiotics you took for the flu
masked the first symptoms of syphilis.
2 months after your sexual encounter with this woman,
can you remember having a rash?
A rash? What do you mean?
I don't think so.
No, I didn't have that.
Anything else?
I had a few spots.
I thought they came from the birch branch.
We went to the sauna with the boys and...
No itching?
No, no pain either. It went away quickly.
A syphilis rash neither hurts nor itches.
Get undressed behind the screen.
You still have a rash.
It confirms that you're still ill.
You have secondary syphilis.
Forget about the construction job.
Come on, Doctor.
Forget it.
You need to go to the hospital.
That's the law in our country.
You are contagious.
Maybe we can find another solution.
- I can be an outpatient. - No.
My plans are falling through. I can't.
Listen young man,
don't you understand that you have syphilis?
If we don't treat you now, it won't end well.
In 2 or 3 years, you'll have tertiary syphilis.
What is it?
It affects the whole body:
internal organs,
the central nervous system with progressive paralysis,
spinal degeneration,
and the kind of dementia that will have you institutionalized.
Furthermore,
here's what it looks like.
You're still young.
You're going to meet a proper girl.
So what do you want?
Children like these?
I need to know who the source of your infection is.
Can you tell me the name, address and occupation of the woman
you had intercourse with?
- But, Doctor... - But what?
She's married and...
So we need to treat her husband too.
Family name and address.
You don't think you're the one
who gave syphilis to your wife.
I'm sure I didn't.
Why do you feel so confident?
Why?
First, I haven't had any symptom. I've never noticed any sign.
You know the symptoms well, don't you?
I dare say I do.
I've read brochures and attended lectures.
Where?
I travel a lot for work.
There's nothing to do in those towns.
Sometimes I go to the theatre, sometimes I get educated.
- You consider yourself educated? - I'm an engineer.
I mean in health matters.
Yes, I think I am.
I'm not suspicious, I'm cautious.
I take the preventive measures necessary.
What measures are you talking about?
You know them.
Tell me.
If you insist, first,
cleanliness, obviously.
And the most important thing is,
before and after, antibiotics.
In which lecture did you hear that?
It's not just lectures. I have friends and my own experience.
So you know about venereal diseases?
Yes, like everybody else.
It's so sad really,
that medicine still can't eradicate these diseases.
Have you seen the WHO figures in Health magazine?
- I have. - Terrible, isn't it?
Each year, around the world,
there are about 50 million new syphilis cases,
and 150 million gonorrhea cases.
It's terrible.
And so,
since you take
antibiotics,
it explains why you never noticed any symptom.
Have you travelled a lot over the past few months?
I have.
Where?
To Odesa, Kiev, Moscow.
- And Lviv? - Lviv?
How do you know about Lviv?
You infected a woman there.
Allow me...
- No, I won't. - She gave me away?
She went to the doctor,
and had to name her partners.
That's the law in our country.
Have you had other one-night stands?
Is this the hospital or the police station?
Don't interfere in my private life.
Listen, you're a risk for society.
You must have infected many women.
You should have been more serious, behaved better.
What about your wife's baby?
My wife is in hospital for treatment.
Unfortunately.
She only went to the clinic to get prenatal care,
2 months before giving birth.
The baby already has syphilis.
Infected before being born. What will it look like?
In any case, if it isn't born healthy,
despite the treatment and measures we took,
it will be on you.
Please sign this warning and the letter for the hospital.
Over the past weeks, we examined many sick people.
Unfortunately, as venereologists,
we witness big and small tragedies daily.
I hope that among the many sick people,
typical ones,
we will find interesting cases for health education.
And I would like to add that our State does a great deal
to stop venereal diseases from threatening people.
But a lot depends on the people themselves,
and on their behaviour.
It's crucial to understand
that self-medication doesn't cure the disease.
It only masks symptoms and the disease progresses.
As to all the patients we filmed,
we agreed to keep them anonymous.
PATIENTS RECEIVED BY THE DOCTORS
A.P TIKHONOVA E.I. MEDVEDOVSKY
FILM WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY L. GORIN
CONSULTANTS: T.V. VASILIEB, L.A. ZLOTINIKOV,
O.I. NUNIKOVA, M.A. ROZENTUL
CAMERAMAN: E. RATNER
SOUND ENGINEER: V. GLUSHKO
EDITOR: G. RUDAKOV
PRODUCER: A. TREIDENFELDT
COMMISSIONED BY THE USSR MINISTRY OF HEALTH
THE END
Subtitles : N. Egorova, E. Fuchs, I. Melnik, T. Riegert, V. Zvenigorosky