The key facts
- According to Mash, Skitsan pushed down a stuck chicken bone with a device made of wire and an IV drip tube and injured his esophagus.
- The actor died in intensive care on November 3; the funeral was moved from November 7 to November 10 and will take place in the village of Syava, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast.
- Relatives had previously linked the hospitalization to an oncological kidney disease — the accounts of the circumstances of his death differ.
What happened
Ivan Skitsan, a 39-year-old actor known for the TV series Ranetki and Margosha and the film Burnt by the Sun 2: Prelude, has died. According to the Telegram channel Mash, a version also shared by Life.ru, the death followed a severe esophageal injury: while eating, a chicken bone got stuck in the actor's throat, and he tried to push it down with a homemade device made of wire and a tube from a medical IV drip. After that, he experienced severe chest pain and was urgently hospitalized. Doctors removed bone fragments and found a deep wound in the esophagus, but despite the care provided, the actor died in intensive care on November 3.
A congenital condition and conflicting accounts
According to Mash, Skitsan had a congenital narrowing of the esophagus that made swallowing difficult; over his lifetime he underwent more than ten operations but never fully solved the problem. When swallowing became even harder, the channel claims, he came up with his own method of pushing food down the esophagus. However, the reason for his hospitalization had previously been reported differently: relatives told TASS that the actor suffered from serious illnesses, had undergone two heart operations, and was hospitalized in connection with an oncological kidney disease. Gazeta.Ru also notes that his death was first reported as the result of a long illness, and later information about possible cancer emerged. Thus, the circumstances of what happened are described differently by different sources, and no definitive official cause of death is named in the publications.
The funeral and doctors' warning
The farewell ceremony was rescheduled: it was originally planned for November 7, but at the initiative of the actor's mother it took place on November 10 — Skitsan will be buried in his home village of Syava in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. The actor's friend Artyom said that shortly before his death he had visited him in the hospital: the actor expected to return home soon and was making ordinary everyday plans. In connection with this case, doctors remind people of the danger of self-treatment when a bone is stuck: as otorhinolaryngologist Igor Manevich previously told Life.ru, he strongly advised against pushing bones down with bread or other solid food — under pressure, a sharp object can penetrate deeper into the tissue and damage the mucous membrane. Attempts to remove the foreign object with fingers or improvised tools are also dangerous; with severe pain when swallowing, bleeding, increasing swelling, or difficulty breathing, one should seek medical help as soon as possible, and if breathing is impaired, call an ambulance.
The actor's career
Ivan Skitsan was born on January 4, 1987, in the village of Syava in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. In 2008, he graduated from the Nizhny Novgorod Theater School named after Evstigneev and then studied at GITIS. He served at the Gorky Moscow Art Theater and Moscow's Theater in the Southwest, where he played Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, Fortinbras in Hamlet, and Duke Theseus in A Midsummer Night's Dream. In addition to Ranetki and Margosha, he appeared in the series Krem and Suprugi. He also taught acting at the K. V. Molchanov Children's Music School.
