Family Accuses Doctors of Neglect After Soldier's Coma
The couple«s life was divided into before and after the accident
In Krasnoturinsk, the family of contract soldier Alexey Menshikov has accused doctors of providing substandard medical care. In January 2026, the young man was in a car accident and sustained severe injuries. He spent five months in a coma but managed to pull through. Thanks to rehabilitation and the care of loved ones, the patient«s condition improved — he began reacting to sounds, eating and drinking from a teaspoon, and holding his head up.
Before being sent to the military operation, Alexey worked with his father in Krasnoturinsk
But in early July, Alexey suffered a severe epileptic seizure. According to his relatives, the local hospital initially refused to admit him, and after they finally did, he received insufficient treatment and care, and his family was not allowed to visit. He was discharged in a neglected state — with bedsores, bleeding from the genital tract, dehydration, wounds, and a rotting gastrostomy tube (an opening through which nutrition and medication are delivered to the stomach via a special tube).
Alexey signed a contract in 2023
The story of the fight for Alexey was told by his common-law wife, Antonina Gref.
Alexey lost control on a snowy turn
The accident that divided life into before and after
Alexey is now 27 and bedridden in a state of «minimal consciousness,» but just eight months ago, his life and that of his loved ones was completely different.
This is the condition Alexey was in at the hospital
Until age 25, the young man ran a cargo transportation business with his father, but when mobilization was announced, he decided to sign a contract. In autumn 2023, Alexey went to the front at the call of his heart. In 2025, he suffered a serious head wound; a fragment could not be removed from his brain, and the soldier was sent on leave with subsequent discharge from the army. Despite the injury, he lived a full life, planned a family, and his loving girlfriend awaited his return from the military operation.
Alexey reacts to his loved ones
For the New Year holidays, Alexey sent his mother and wife to relax at the seaside. He had just returned home and was meeting with friends. On January 2, he was driving his BMW in Karpinsk, completely sober. That evening, heavy snow was falling, and on a turn, the young man lost control; the car crashed into a wall at speed.
The family has publicly stated its claims against the medics
Two of Alexey«s friends were in the passenger seats — they didn»t get a single scratch and immediately called an ambulance. The driver himself was urgently hospitalized with severe head injuries.
Alexey«s loving wife is always by his side
«The Krasnoturinsk hospital has no neurosurgeons, so they waited until morning for a doctor from Yekaterinburg, who was delivered by a disaster medicine helicopter. On the morning of January 3, he was operated on. Due to the severe traumatic brain injury, there was a large hematoma. From the impact, his brain was the size of a watermelon. They had to perform a craniotomy and remove blood clots.
Because of the fragment in his head, Lyosha was not transportable, but we managed to persuade the medics, and a few days later he was transferred to a military hospital in Yekaterinburg. For about five months he was in a vegetative state, that is, in a coma,« explained the injured man»s wife.
He began to eat and cried at his favorite song
Fortunately, Alexey turned out to be a fighter by nature. He regained consciousness and began making his first progress in rehabilitation. In May, he was transferred to the Clinical Institute of the Brain in Beryozovsky.
There, the patient underwent verticalization (being moved to a sitting or standing position with the help of special equipment). He began to maintain blood pressure, his swallowing reflex formed, and he started drinking water and eating pureed food. Alexey responded to his name and cried when his favorite song was played. In early June, he was discharged with positive dynamics. At home, the young man was cared for by his loving wife, parents, and friends. He was preparing for further rehabilitation, but on July 2, a severe epileptic seizure occurred.
«We were at home when it happened. I immediately called an ambulance, begged them to send medics because I was afraid he would die. At first they refused, but eventually they sent a carriage, we went to the hospital, but they didn»t admit him. The head of neurology at Krasnoturinsk hospital said that Lyosha«s cerebral cortex had died and there were no grounds for hospitalization. I asked, how is he then moving his eyes and reacting to us? In the end, she sent us home,» said Antonina.
«The body began to rot»
Two days later, the seizure recurred, but it was even worse. The young man began to choke. His loved ones called an ambulance again, and the patient was immediately taken to the hospital and this time hospitalized.
«Lyosha was put in a shared ward, but he had a urogenital infection and an infection from the tracheostomy — he needed to be placed separately. We asked for this, offered to pay for a private room, but also received a refusal with the head doctor»s words: “The VIP room is in the corridor, there are no places.” His temperature immediately rose. He is bedridden, he needs constant care, but no one watched him. The next day, when we came, it was no longer Lyosha; in a day they had turned him into a vegetable,« explained the wife.
The patient stopped responding to his name, drinking, and moving.
«When I started asking questions, we were denied visits. They didn»t issue passes, relatives of other patients went in, but we weren«t allowed. But one day I just brazenly walked into the ward. He was curled up and lying in that position, his legs and arms had stiffened. Besides, the gastrostomy should be closed with a cap, otherwise gases and infection get in, food can go back into the GI tract, and he could simply choke. All those days in the hospital, he lay with the cap open — the medics lost it, and the gastrostomy itself was torn, it wasn»t flushed. It had all turned black, the body began to rot.
Because he wasn«t given water, dehydration set in, his whole mouth was covered in blood. In all nine days he was in the hospital, he was never washed — he was covered in scabs, despite the fact that on the very first day we brought everything needed, even bandages. Bedridden patients need their legs bandaged to prevent thrombosis, but the bandages weren»t even unpacked. He could have died at any moment — a blood clot can form within an hour,« explained the wife.
Furthermore, it turned out that a urinary catheter was inserted in the hospital, which should not have been done (since the patient had a catheter for five months, the bladder could atrophy, and the risk of infection increases). To avoid such consequences, diapers and special urological condoms should be used.
«The discharge took place with a scandal. Apparently, the doctors understood that we would have questions about the urinary catheter, so they yanked it out. They also tore out the gastrostomy. We discovered all this at home. Lyosha had bleeding from his genital organ and a bedsore — which had not appeared in all the months he was bedridden. I called the doctors» room to ask where the bleeding was from. The doctor replied: “Why are you calling here, don«t you know where to put him now?” and hung up,» said Antonina.
The day after discharge, the patient was supposed to have a teleconsultation with doctors at the Clinical Institute of the Brain.
«We even gathered and prepared money, but at the consultation, of course, we were told that in a vegetative state with bedsores he would not be accepted for rehabilitation,» noted Alexey«s wife.
Months of rehabilitation lost
The family noted that due to the medics« negligence, the results of months of rehabilitation were lost during those days.
«At home we simply couldn»t have brought him out of that state; we had to urgently look for specialists. In Yekaterinburg, we were accepted for paid rehabilitation at a private center. Despite the fact that Lyosha is a contract soldier, a first-group invalid, free recovery programs simply don«t exist for him. They take those who can sit independently or patients with attendants. Over several weeks of supportive rehabilitation, Lyosha is making progress — he is already trying to laugh,» noted Antonina.
To achieve justice, Alexey«s relatives filed complaints with the Sverdlovsk Ministry of Health, the Investigative Committee, the prosecutor»s office, the insurance company, and the hospital itself. At the moment, the wife has only been scheduled for an appointment with a representative of the regional government.
Now the family is raising funds for a year of rehabilitation. Two courses (the first two months) have already been paid for thanks to the fundraising. Soon the relatives expect a response from the Clinical Institute of the Brain, where medics can not only maintain the patient«s condition but help improve his skills.
«There are absolutely no forecasts. Our task is to sit him up so he can hold his head, to achieve at least average consciousness (rather than minimal). Full recovery, to get him back on his feet, could take decades,» concluded the wife.
Ministry of Health response
The E1.RU editorial team sent a request to the Sverdlovsk Ministry of Health asking whether medical care was fully provided to the patient at Krasnoturinsk hospital. The ministry said it does not disclose information about treatment, as it constitutes medical confidentiality.
Earlier, we told the story of a doctor who was paralyzed due to colleagues« error. Also read a lawyer»s column on how to sue doctors.
