Russian doctor faces two years jail after one-punch attack kills patient
A Russian doctor has been caught on CCTV killing a patient with a ‘coward punch’.
WARNING, DISTRESSING CONTENT
Shocking video of the attack, which occurred in the southern city of Belgorod, was aired on local news and went viral on YouTube.
The accused has since been nicknamed ‘the boxer doctor’ by Russian media.
The incident has raised questions over ‘cover-up culture’ in state medicine, after investigators announced the probe several days after the attack.
In the graphic footage, the strongly-built doctor in his medical clothing drags the male patient from an examination table and asks ‘why did you touch the nurse?’
The doctor can then be seen pushing the patient.
When the patient gets up the doctor hits him with a punch to the face and the middle-aged man falls back on to the floor.
Meanwhile the doctor continues to scuffle with another man accompanying the patient.
It takes minutes for the medics to notice the patient lying motionless and attempt to revive him.
Police said in a statement on Saturday that the incident took place on December 29.
The doctor hit the patient in the face after he allegedly kicked a nurse, police said.
“The cause of death of the victim was trauma to the skull and brain from hitting the back of the head on the hard surface of the floor,” they said.
Russian media named the doctor as Ilya Zelendinov, a surgeon at the hospital, and the patient was 56-year-old Yevgeny Bakhtin.
Police said Zelendinov faced two years jail for causing death through negligence.
He has since been fired from his job but remains a free man after signing a declaration that he will not travel during the investigation.
