43-year-old serviceman Sergiy Kuznetsov sustained a chest injury during leave in Kyiv. He came to the Kyiv City Clinical Emergency Hospital — a specialized facility, to the polytrauma department. He left with a recommendation to receive outpatient treatment from a family physician. Within days, he died at the hospital at his place of service.
What the investigation established
According to the Desnyansky District Prosecutor's Office, a 56-year-old surgeon conducted an examination, recorded a rib fracture and an elbow joint wound — and prescribed pain relief and anti-inflammatory therapy instead of hospitalization. X-rays, as the investigation determined, were taken in only one projection, whereas diagnostic standards require a minimum of two — frontal and lateral. It is precisely the lateral projection that allows detection of fractures invisible on frontal images.
«A suspicion has been announced to a 56-year-old surgeon from the polytrauma department... He is suspected of improper performance of professional duties that caused serious consequences for the patient»
— Desnyansky District Prosecutor's Office of Kyiv
Kuznetsov returned to his military unit. Within days, he died. Police opened criminal proceedings on June 13 — concerning the death.
The doctor is not this hospital's first problem
Additional context: this case is not an isolated incident. According to NV, during 2025–2026, the Health Department of Kyiv City State Administration received seven official complaints regarding inadequate organization of medical care at this facility. On June 17, hospital director Viktor Dorosh was dismissed ahead of schedule — he himself stated that he did not understand the grounds for such a decision.
That is, the surgeon under suspicion is already the second hospital official to come under pressure in a short period of time. However, the director's dismissal and the doctor's indictment — administrative and criminal measures — do not answer the question of whether the protocol has changed.
One projection — a systemic detail
The technical cause of the tragedy — an X-ray in one projection — appears to be a minor detail, but is indicative. The standard for diagnosing chest trauma provides for images in at least two planes: frontal projection provides an overall picture, lateral — reveals rib fractures that are obscured by other structures in the frontal projection. Omission of the second projection is not uncommon in overloaded emergency departments, where every minute and every image is considered a resource.
- The surgeon saw a rib fracture — but did not assess its full extent
- Instead of hospitalization — outpatient treatment and dispatch to the unit
- Death occurred not at the hospital where the examination took place, but already at the place of service
It is precisely this distance between the error and its consequences — several days and hundreds of kilometers — that complicates both the proof of guilt and systemic response.
The doctor faces liability under Part 1 of Article 140 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — improper performance of professional duties by a medical worker that caused serious consequences. The sanction is restriction of liberty for up to three years or imprisonment for the same period with deprivation of the right to engage in medical activity.
If the Ministry of Health does not fix the mandatory requirement for two projections in the emergency department protocol for patients with chest trauma after this case — the next such case will be only a matter of time.
