Friends and colleagues remember

Sensitivity scale

“Rodnaya gazeta” № 13/2005 dated April 8-14

“Last week-ends we mourned. We lost our friend. Tolya Rahimbaev was a great cameraman. We worked together for a long time in “Izvestiya”. Tolya was a Real Man. He really loved life. Because he loved people, family, colleagues, the heroes of his photo reportages, many of which should after all cause the reverse feeling.

He was 48. After another trip he went for elective surgery. He promised “to be back into operation” in a week.

He did not…

It becomes clear now, that the absence of this love was the main reason of his death. In the others. By the way, also professionals. After the surgery Tolya started to complain about the severe pain in heart. The nurse on duty made cardiogram, which, as it often happens, did not reveal any danger. The nurse encouraged in a standard way, as it goes in our hospitals: “Stop be naughty, all people feel pain after the surgery”.

Tolya was dieing down almost twelve hours under the very eyes of his wife and children. He mannishly tolerated the pain. The health professionals were irresponsive: purporting that it is a common phenomenon – the patient can feel like this after narcosis. Other sores can remind of themselves as well. And they started to do something only when it was already late. When it is impossible to get a man back. In the column “the cause of death” they had to make the diagnosis: post-surgical infarction. Tolya’s friends-doctors said that there is a “sensitivity scale”, if to explain more popular, on cardiograph, as on the majority of the devices as well. At first, the standard indications are taken. But it happens very often that the standard regime does not establish the reason for recrudescence. And then the experienced doctors transfer the device to the other scale, more sensible to the symptoms. If in Tolya’s case they would conduct the additional (more “deep”) measurement after the standard measuring, then probably, they would reveal the infarction. And would do the things necessary for such cases: would save the patient. And, more likely, could save him. But....they did nit transfer the scale. We can carry out our own investigation. And, probably, the functionaries “will take some actions”. They will dismiss, for example, the doctor on duty or the nurse on duty, taking the indications from cardiometer. But on the next day the others will come at this place. The paradox of particular medical error is that the nurse, probably, did not have time to think about that unfortunate “scale”. And now indeed she is really crying somewhere, womanishly. It’s hard to live for her… because, most likely, she has to work in two or three places in order to get the possibility to survive in the capital – one of the worldwide leaders by the level of cynicism and prices, where the working person is given less living wages, where a lot of people, from the street cleaner to the city hall functionary, are busy with everyday search of bread and butter.

And where there is no time to think, that the “scale” should be urgently changed somehow. As it went off scale a long before. But to the zero side.

Our “sensitivity scale” became a bomb very fast according to the universal standards. It can explode in a moment. Then it will be up to here. For everyone. And you will not influence on final results by money (or belonging to elite). It is impossible to hide behind the high fence of their private house or in petroleum pipe, obtained for free. And the nurse will take the indications in all the patients. It’s a routine …”

Alexey Belyanchev
Chief editor deputy of “Rodnya gazeta”

In memory of Anatoly Rahimbaev

The camera man of “Izvestiya” Anatoly Rahimbaev died on Wednesday. Tolya died in the hospital, not undergoing the surgery. Everyone was shocked in editorial office. When a person, who just came back from a business trip and was going to another one, suddenly dies, the human life seems absurd and senseless.

And everyone is shocked also because Tolya was 48. He had a wife, three children and one grandson.

Anatoly saw the world clean and fresh, there was no fatigue on his face, he smiled childly, but he had experience and intellect in his eyes. He was very critical to himself and could forgive the others. And not only have we remembered him like this. Till 2002 Anatoly lived and worked in Uzbekistan. He, saying the least of, was the most reputable photographer in this country. And those, who are far from the photo art, even once saw his photographs from dry Aral Sea. This filming made Anatoly Rahimbaev the winner of "Interphoto" and became the classics of photo art not only in CIS countries, but in Europe as well. Exactly due to Anatoly Rahimbaev’s eyes the world saw for the first time this ecological catastrophe.

He liked Tashkent. He has moved to Russia for permanent residence habitancy only three years ago, though he was invited here before. We all remember how he was surprised that no one in Moscow metro gives a place to adults.

Tolya liked to tell what he could see in this life. Till the middle of 80s Anatoly worked as geologist, traveled around the country, but he was telling us not about the stones and land, but about the people, living on these stones and on this land. He could find a common language with the representatives of all the nations, because the common language in all the nations is really one, and Anatoly knew it perfectly. He could speak this language with reality, learning about it those things, which are closed for others, and showed this knowledge in photography.

It seems to us that Anatoly died early.

Lest we forget
Colleagues from Izvestiya

From the colleagues of Tashkent editorial office of “BVV” newspaper

"Today is 9 days, and we gathered to remember Tolik. For those who knew him, this tragic news became a real shock. We remembered what a bright person he was. Everyone had something to day because Tolya was really uncommon. We loved him, admired, were proud, and were glad about his success, worried if something was wrong. When somebody brought his pictures in BVV, Lyuba (Lyubov Eberzenok – note by J.R.) often said: No, it is not Rahimbaev – no one did better than Tolik did, Tolik was the sample of professionalism.

He had got a lot from God; he achieved a lot in this life, he was very heard-working, clever cookie. He liked a lot what he did. Today we said a lot that people, with whom we go close, are not accidental in our life. We can forget some of them very fast, others – are ordinary, but there are such people, from whom the light is coming and it becomes warm inside, and you start to look around in other way, become big-hearted. And this is about Tolik.