The mother of a deceased resident of Kabardino-Balkaria has been seeking compensation from hospitals in court for several years.

Since 2024, Rimma Kaskulova has been demanding compensation from hospitals for the death of her son, who was given inadequate medical care. The Baksan District Court has heard the claim three times, and now it has been returned by the cassation instance to the Supreme Court of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic.

As "Caucasian Knot" reported, the court ordered three clinics to pay compensation to the mother of a resident of Kabardino-Balkaria who died as a result of medical error.

The mother is seeking compensation for the death of her son.

The claim of Rimma Kaskulova, a resident of the village of Zayukovo in Kabardino-Balkaria, whose son Azik Kaskulov died due to a series of medical errors and their negligence in their duties, has been under consideration by the courts for several years.

On April 4, 2025, the Baksan District Court granted the claim of The plaintiff sought 3 million rubles in compensation for moral damages in favor of the mother—one million each from the Baksan District Hospital, the Zayukovskaya District Hospital, and the Republican Clinical Hospital. According to the court's ruling, the plaintiff sought 5 million from each hospital. The Baksan District Court reduced the claim amount by five times.

As Rimma Kaskulova told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, on November 11, 2021, her son began to feel unwell:

"He developed abdominal pain and a fever. He was taken to the Baksan District Hospital, where he was diagnosed with appendicitis and underwent an appendectomy. About a week later, he was discharged from the hospital, as stated in the discharge summary, "in satisfactory condition" under the supervision of a surgeon at Zayukovskaya Hospital. Over the next two weeks, he went to the rural hospital, where he had dressings changed. But his health did not improve, and the pain did not subside," she said.

Two weeks later, the ambulance team returned again Kaskulov was taken to the same hospital, where the doctor on duty examined him but refused to readmit him, citing the coronavirus pandemic (even though his test was negative). He was again sent under the observation of doctors at Zayukovskaya Hospital.

Then the patient's family independently decided to have an MRI scan at a private medical firm. The results revealed pus in the abdominal cavity. In February 2022, Kaskulov underwent a second operation at Zayukovskaya Hospital, and a gauze pad, forgotten during the first operation and worn for more than three months, was removed from his abdominal cavity. Over these three months, according to official medical documents, the previously completely healthy young man experienced serious pathological changes in his body.

Soon, the patient was again hospitalized, this time to the surgical department of the Republican Clinical Hospital. He was treated and discharged, according to the discharge summary, in "relatively satisfactory condition."

However, he was soon hospitalized again in serious condition, complaining of pain throughout his abdomen, bloating, nausea, repeated vomiting, and a high body temperature. He underwent another operation, then another, but his condition did not improve.

Then the parents raised money, hired a private plane, and flew their son to Moscow, to the V. Demikhov City Clinical Hospital, but, unfortunately, it was too late. Multiple surgeries performed on the patient in Moscow, who by this time had acute intestinal obstruction, sepsis, acute cardiovascular failure, and a number of other complications, were unable to help. He died on May 26, 2022.

The examination found violations in the actions of doctors

After the death of her son, Rimma Kaskulova contacted the insurance company ASP OOO Kapital MS with a request to conduct an inspection of the above-mentioned medical institutions regarding the quality of medical care provided to her son.

As a result of the inspection, a number of violations and defects in the medical care provided were identified, for which reports were drawn up on December 29, 2023, in relation to all three medical institutions.

As follows from the conclusion of ASP OOO Kapital MS, the quality of medical care was recognized as inadequate under paragraph 21 of Article 2 of the Law of the Russian Federation No. 323-FZ: incorrect Choice of diagnostic and treatment methods.

The first violation was a gauze pad forgotten in the abdominal cavity. The mother believes that this was the beginning of all the subsequent complications in her son.

At the Republican Clinical Hospital, "a complete medical history was not collected, drug therapy was not administered in full, recommendations for further patient management were not provided, and the patient was discharged from the hospital prematurely and unjustifiably."

"Premature discharge from the hospital contributed to the progression of the disease and the development of complications, leading to rehospitalization in serious condition," the conclusion states.

Of all the hospitals where Kaskulov was treated, only the Moscow hospital did not find any violations. In all three hospitals in Kabardino-Balkaria, medical care was deemed substandard, leading to subsequent complications. Furthermore, according to the mother, Moscow doctors told her that her son had initially been misdiagnosed—he did not have appendicitis and did not require surgery; He had intestinal inflammation.

Kaskulova also contacted the Kabardino-Balkarian Ministry of Health to conduct a departmental inspection.

According to the inspection report of the Kabardino-Balkarian Ministry of Health dated May 8, 2024, regarding the Central District Hospital of the city of Baksan and the Baksan Municipal District, a number of violations of the criteria for the quality of medical care in inpatient settings and clinical guidelines were found.

Following the inspection, the attending physicians were subject to disciplinary action, however, according to the mother, no one was fired.

All three hospitals filed an appeal against the decision of the Baksan District Court, considering it illegal and unfounded and demanding a reduction in the amount of the award to 100,000 rubles each. However, the Supreme Court upheld the decision. The defendants then appealed to the Fifth Cassation Court.

On November 13, 2025, the Fifth Cassation Court overturned all decisions and remanded the case for a new trial. The cassation court's decision stated that the trial court erroneously failed to order a forensic medical examination, relying solely on the opinion of the insurance company, ASP OOO Kapital MS, and the opinion of the Kabardino-Balkarian Ministry of Health. However, only a forensic medical examination can establish a causal relationship between the diagnostic and treatment errors and the fatal outcome.

As Kaskulova's lawyer, Sergey Bronitsky, reported, the doctors tried in every way to absolve themselves of responsibility. At the Baksan hospital, for example, they rewrote all the medical records, claiming that Kaskulov was treated there but had not undergone any surgery. When presented with evidence, they claimed that the surgery had been performed but no tampon had been left behind, saying, "Who knows where and how the tampon could have gotten into him?" In his opinion, these claims, in the presence of a mother who had lost her only son, seemed, at the very least, cynical.

The next hearing of the Supreme Court of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic on this case is scheduled for May 7.

According to information on the website of the Baksan District Court, Rimma Kaskulova's claims against medical institutions were heard in March 2024, April 2025, and February 2026. The Supreme Court of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic heard the claim in June 2025, and a new hearing began on March 25 of this year.