Akmola court orders Tselinograd clinic to pay 1.6 mln tenge over misdiagnosis

August 17, 2026 at 08:30 PM2 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

An Akmola regional court has ordered the Tselinograd district polyclinic to pay a patient 1.6 million tenge after doctors' diagnostic errors led to phlegmon and emergency surgery. The appellate ruling awards 914,000 tenge in lost earnings and upholds 700,000 tenge in moral damages. The patient, a machine operator, was urgently hospitalized in Astana in July 2025, where surgeons drained about 1.5 liters of pus.

Key Facts

On appeal, the Akmola Regional Court ordered the Tselinograd district polyclinic to pay 914,000 tenge in lost earnings to a patient who was unable to work after developing phlegmon.
The trial court's award of 700,000 tenge in moral damages was left unchanged, bringing the total amount awarded against the polyclinic to about 1.6 million tenge.
In July 2025, the man first visited the clinic with fever, cough, headache and pain in his shoulder and was diagnosed with ARVI, acute nasopharyngitis, chronic bronchitis and pneumonia.
A week after the initial visits, he was hospitalized in Astana, where doctors diagnosed phlegmon of the left arm and scapular areas and surgeons removed about 1.5 liters of pus.
An expert commission found clinic doctors diagnosed the disease late, ignored test results and took a superficial medical history, establishing a direct causal link between their actions and the development of phlegmon.

Diagnostic Failure

In July 2025, a machine operator visited the Tselinograd district polyclinic with fever, cough, headache and pain in his shoulder. Clinic doctors diagnosed ARVI, acute nasopharyngitis, chronic bronchitis and pneumonia. When he returned days later with severe pain and swelling in the shoulder joint, a physician diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis and referred him to a traumatologist, who diagnosed shoulder ligament strain and overexertion; another doctor repeated that diagnosis. A week later, the man was urgently hospitalized in an Astana hospital, where doctors found phlegmon of the left upper limb and the supra- and subscapular areas. Surgeons performed emergency surgery and drained about 1.5 liters of pus.

Appeal Ruling

An expert commission concluded that polyclinic doctors diagnosed the illness late, ignored test results and compiled a superficial anamnesis. The commission established a direct causal link between the medical workers' actions and the development of phlegmon. The trial court partially upheld the claim and ordered the polyclinic to pay 700,000 tenge in moral damages, but refused lost earnings and medication costs. An appellate chamber of the Akmola Regional Court reviewed the case and awarded 914,000 tenge in lost earnings because the man was on sick leave for a long period and could not work. The court left the 700,000 tenge moral damages award unchanged and declined to compensate treatment costs because the insurance company had already covered them.