Doctor in Private Clinics Network Found Guilty of Professional Misconduct After the Patient’s Death

On 8 April 2024, the Solomianskyi District Court of Kyiv City found the doctor of the Kyiv city private clinics network guilty of improper discharge of his professional duties as a medical practitioner (Article 140 (1) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) resulting in the patient’s death and sentenced him to 1.6 years in prison. The court decision enables the family of the deceased patient to file a claim against the clinic for damages including pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages.

In 2020, 35-year-old Anastasia Ostrovska, wife of the ex-Minister of Health of Ukraine Alexander Kvitashvili (2014-2016), was treated in the Kyiv city network of private clinics. The patient sought medical assistance for a simple elective laparoscopic surgery to remove gallbladder stones. After an unsuccessful surgical intervention, doctors from a private medical network performed three more operations within a month, which led to the death of the patient.

To protect the injured party’s interests, Ilyashev & Partners’ attorneys conducted their own investigation and collected irrefutable evidence. In particular, a clinical expert commission of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine was carried out to assess the quality of medical care and assistance provided by the private clinics’ network, as well as a commission forensic medical examination.

The pre-trial investigation and hearing of the case on the merits lasted for three years. Obtained evidence and expert findings made it possible to prove the guilt of the medical practitioner, which is a rare outcome for this type of case. The doctor convicted of a criminal offense by the court was released from serving his sentence due to the expiration of the three-year limitation period (Article 74 (5) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

“The court decision allows us to recover pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages caused to the victim’s relatives from the private clinics network,” says Alla Tsymanovska, a Medical Law Attorney-at-Law at Ilyashev & Partners Law Firm, who represented the victim. – We will continue to fight for the patient’s rights and raise the issue of taking administrative measures to eliminate shortcomings in the provision of medical care to patients regarding incomplete and late diagnosis, lack of laboratory and clinical investigations, lack of additional research methods (medical ultrasound, X-ray diagnostics), high-skilled professionals, underestimation of the patient’s condition severity, inadequate extent and method of surgery, technical defects occurring during it, lack of possible complications prevention by the private clinics network management.  

The case was handled by Alla Tsymanovska and Volodymyr Adonin, Attorneys at Law at Ilyashev & Partners.