Medical bargaining: the number of claims against Ilyinsky hospital is growing
At least three people have contacted Roszdravnadzor in connection with substandard treatment at the Ilyinsky hospital, and seven more are trying to resolve the dispute through the courts, Izvestia found out. Among the claims are the possible consequences of operations, the quality of medical care, and multimillion—dollar bills for interventions that, according to the plaintiffs, were carried out in an emergency and should not be paid. The editorial board looked into why it is difficult for patients of private clinics to challenge the cost of treatment, even when it comes to saving lives.
What kind of trials are going on
In 2026, Roszdravnadzor received three applications in connection with treatment at the Ilyinsky Hospital, the agency told Izvestia.
— One in the fields of "otolaryngology" and "surgery" is currently under consideration. Two more related to the provision of paid medical services. One of them, in the field of surgery, was sent to a medical organization to conduct an internal security check of medical activities, they said.
Roszdravnadzor added that they keep the situation with the provision of medical care in the institution under special control.
At least seven people (including patients and relatives of those who were treated at the Krasnogorsk clinic) went to court, Izvestia found out. Earlier, the editorial board talked about the case of businessman Sergei Stikharev, who achieved the payment of 10 million rubles in compensation for moral damage and the refund of the cost of treatment after the death of his mother in the clinic.
Currently, at least four consumer protection lawsuits have been registered in the Krasnogorsk City Court, where Ilyinskaya Hospital is acting as a defendant. One of them has already ended with an amicable agreement. Another dispute with the clinic is being considered in the Khoroshevsky District Court of Moscow, and the Svobodnenskiy City Court of the Amur Region is hearing a case on compensation for moral damage in connection with harm to life and health.
The essence of the claims has not been officially disclosed, but, as it became known to the editorial board, one of the plaintiffs' father died after treatment at the Ilyinsky hospital, and the other's mother. Presumably, two lawsuits are related to suspicions of poor-quality treatment of children.
Another application for consumer protection was submitted to the Tushinsky District Court, but now it has been left without motion.
Izvestia contacted some of the plaintiffs, but they declined to comment until the court proceedings were completed. However, the editorial office managed to talk to two patients of the clinic who have not yet applied to the court. Both were observed by an otolaryngologist at the Ilyinsky Hospital. According to the interviewees, after operations that they had not planned to do, their health deteriorated sharply, and then empty nose syndrome appeared, a rare chronic condition that can occur after interventions on the nasal concha with the removal of a significant part of the tissue.
So, Marina told Izvestia that she went to a hospital near Moscow in December 2023 in connection with nasal discharge. At the clinic, she was diagnosed with vasomotor rhinitis, a chronic runny nose unrelated to infection or allergies. In April 2024, she underwent turbinoplasty of the nasal concha, an operation to reduce them to restore normal breathing..
"After the operation, the claimed therapeutic effect (elimination of white discharge) was not achieved, and moreover, a new symptom appeared — severe sneezing, nose sensitivity <...> and empty nose syndrome," the patient wrote in a complaint to Roszdravnadzor (Izvestia has it).
Marina believes that the decision about the operation was made without a full-fledged examination. Later, an allergist at Ilyinsky Hospital and a specialist at another clinic confirmed that she was allergic to dust, wormwood pollen, and house dust mites.
"The operation itself had no medical indications, since the initial complaint — a white discharge from the nose — was within the competence of an allergist," the complaint says.
Now the woman is undergoing treatment at her own expense and is going to put an implant in her nose to fix the problem.
Another patient, Alina, needed to have her tonsils removed. According to her, the ENT doctor persuaded her to have an operation on her nose at the same time, because after the girl suffered COVID-19, it began to be laid periodically.
— I agreed, and after the operation I started shortness of breath and tachycardia. For two years, I survived only with cotton wool in my nose to breathe. I've been through hell," she told Izvestia.
The patient went to South Korea, where a local doctor diagnosed her with empty nose syndrome (Izvestia has the document). As a result, she had implants inserted in another Russian hospital to remedy the situation.
Izvestia contacted representatives of the Ilyinskaya Hospital for comment, but at the time of publication they had not received a response from the clinic.
Other courts
Ilyinskaya Hospital is also a plaintiff in at least two cases. Izvestia spoke with one of the defendants— Olga Ivanova. In February 2024, her husband, Vladimir Lukanov, underwent surgery to remove a tumor at this clinic. However, an hour after the manipulation was completed, he lost three liters of blood and fell into a coma, she said.
— My husband was operated on again on the fifth day. Necrosis of the internal organs was detected, and the intestines, both thin and thick, were removed. At the same time, I had to pay for intensive care — 200-250 thousand rubles a day," she said.
According to Olga, despite the treatment, Vladimir did not get better. He had sepsis. The transfer to another hospital did not help either. The man died six months after the operation.
— My husband could live with this tumor. The surgeon said that the operation was simple and he would be playing tennis in ten days," Olga added, noting that the tumor, as it turned out, was benign.
She decided not to sue the hospital.
— I was definitely not up to it after my husband's death. He can't be brought back. The six months that I was with him after the operation and saw what he had been turned into turned out to be very difficult for me psychologically," she added.
The cost of the operation was more than 3.3 million rubles, Mikhail Kulikov, a family representative and lawyer, told Izvestia.
"But the operation did not go according to plan, Ilyinskaya Hospital JSC sent requests for replenishment of the deposit, as a result, 11.5 million rubles were transferred by my client," he added.
A year later, the institution went to court, insisting that she had been provided with services worth more than 17.5 million rubles and, on this basis, demanded that the deceased's wife (as the guarantor who signed the contract) and his daughter (as the heir) recover more than 7 million rubles.
The lawyer believes that a significant part of the expenses cannot be collected from the family, since these services were provided on an emergency basis.
"Emergency medical care is provided by a medical organization and a medical professional to a citizen immediately and free of charge. Refusal to provide it is not allowed," says the federal law "On the Basics of Public Health Protection in the Russian Federation."
In the epicrisis (medical report) issued by the Ilyinsky Hospital (Izvestia has it), it is said that Vladimir was operated on again as an emergency.
"The life—saving effect was the removal of the necrotic intestine and the elimination of bile, gastric and pancreatic stomata," the document says.
However, the courts did not agree with the arguments of the defense, referring to the concluded contract for the provision of medical services. According to the document, the patient knew that the institution does not provide free care, therefore, in case of adverse consequences, he assumes full responsibility.
Vladimir Lukanov's family lost the first instance — they were ordered to pay both the main debt in the amount of more than 6 million rubles, and part of the penalty — 700 thousand rubles. However, during the appeal, the amount of debt decreased to 4.5 million rubles.
"To refuse to satisfy the demands for the recovery of penalties and court costs in excess of the amount collected," the court decision says.
The defense side does not agree with the verdict and plans to file a cassation appeal, the lawyer stressed.
Should emergency care be provided free of charge
Even private clinics cannot refuse to provide emergency care to a patient or require payment in advance, said Irina Hrytsenko, a medical lawyer. Such expenses can also be covered through compulsory medical insurance. However, in practice, the patient usually signs a notification stating that he knows about the possibility of receiving treatment for free, but chooses a paid service.
— Now the courts mostly consider that such a document is enough to recognize the treatment as paid. Therefore, they often come to the conclusion that the patient must pay the costs under the contract," she said.
At the same time, experts have repeatedly pointed out that the right to free emergency care should also apply in private clinics when it comes to saving lives, Irina Gritsenko added.
"If this approach is enshrined in law or it becomes a stable judicial practice, patients will not have to pay for emergency interventions, which in some cases cost several hundred thousand rubles per day," she stressed.
The cost of ships with clinics
Patients interviewed by Izvestia note that disputes with medical institutions are costly, time-consuming, and can last for years. This is confirmed by medical experts.
"In such trials, the costs are often higher than expected, since each case has its own characteristics," Ekaterina Baturina, a lawyer and medical lawyer, told Izvestia.
Thus, a medical examination will require from 150 to 500 thousand rubles, said medical lawyer Irina Gritsenko. And in general, you will have to pay from 300 thousand rubles, Ekaterina Baturina said. According to her, the final amount depends on the region, the complexity of the case and the qualifications of the specialists involved.
It is also necessary to take into account that the judicial process takes a lot of time, Irina Hrytsenko explained.
— Today, the first instance in cases of this kind takes about a year, the second — about seven months, — she noted.
Irina Hrytsenko also noted that disputes with medical institutions are among the most difficult in civil practice. The expert advises requesting all medical documents in advance, conducting an independent assessment of them, and obtaining the opinion of a specialist. This will make it possible to understand whether there are real medical and legal grounds for filing a claim and what are the prospects for its consideration. In some cases, the lawyer believes, an attempt to negotiate with the clinic may be more effective than a multi-year trial with unclear prospects.
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