The Russian Ministry of Defense returns back to the war in Ukraine mobilized, injured, including military personnel with shrapnel in their knees and head. This is reported by "Layout": journalists found dozens of lawsuits against doctors and hospital management in the bases of garrison courts, and also talked with relatives of the military.
According to the publication, the military is trying to sue in order not to return to the war, but in 99% of cases they are denied. Of the 55 cases already considered, only one claim was satisfied, in most cases the courts agree with military doctors, then the mobilized and contract soldiers with injuries are sent to fight on. In total, at least 93 servicemen tried to appeal against the conclusions of medical commissions. Some recently filed lawsuits have yet to be decided.
Also, the military often cannot receive payments for the wound, military hospitals take too long to issue the necessary documents for this. The head of the Union of Committees of Soldiers' Mothers, Valentina Melnikova, claims that there have always been complaints about military medical commissions, and because of the mobilization they have become more noticeable.
The publication cites the story of a serviceman Viktor Chuprinenko, who returned from the front in the spring of 2022 and went to two private clinics with complaints of deteriorating health. Doctors came to the conclusion that he was ill and could not work at the moment. However, in the hospital of the Krasnodar military hospital No. 419, at a meeting of the military medical commission, Chuprinenko was recognized as fit for service.
He filed a lawsuit with the Krasnodar garrison military court, where it turned out that only two of the six doctors on the commission examined him. The neurologist, ophthalmologist, otorhinolaryngologist and traumatologist were not at the meeting. The court canceled the medical report on the suitability of Chuprinenko and ordered the doctors to hold a second meeting. This is the only decision in favor of the serviceman, Nestka notes. In all other cases, the military courts take the side of the hospitals.
For example, serviceman Aleksey Zaitsev received a mine-explosive injury at the front in November 2022. He was treated in the surgical department of military hospital No. 1602 in Rostov-on-Don and in the branch of military hospital No. 422 in Mulino, Nizhny Novgorod region. On an x-ray, during examination in private clinics, Zaitsev was found to have fragments, one with a diameter of 4.5 mm in the buttock, and smaller fragments were also found in the knees and shins. In addition, he was diagnosed with degenerative-dystrophic changes (destruction) in the knee joints.
However, the military medical commission of the branch of hospital No. 1602 in Novocherkassk concluded that, despite the presence of fragments, damage to the knee joints, hernia in the spine and osteochondrosis, he can serve, since the main function of his legs – the ability to move – was preserved. Zaitsev appealed to the Novocherkassk garrison military court, the decision of the commission is still in force.
Separately, the text notes that a large number of complaints were received by the courts from military personnel in the spring and summer of 2023. Thus, the military filed a record number of lawsuits against military hospital No. 413 in Volgograd. 26 servicemen did not agree with the decisions of the commissions.