Patient in Russian Hospital Dies After Punch by Doctor

A Russian doctor may go from scrubs to a prison jumpsuit for punching a patient who later died, CNN reports. Video from security cameras at the hospital in Belgorod captured the Dec. 29 attack by a doctor identified as Ilya Zelendinov, reports the BBC. An autopsy of the patient—identified by RT.com as 56-year-old Evgeny Vakhtin—revealed a traumatic brain injury. The video shows Zelendinov bursting into an examination room and punching Vakhtin, who falls to the ground, as well as a second man. The doctor was fired and is now under house arrest facing two years in prison. Because an investigative committee found no evidence that Zelendinov meant to kill the man, the attack has been classified as negligence.

CNN, citing Russia's RIA Novosti, says the patient had earlier kicked a nurse, thus enraging the doctor. A friend of Vakhtin's, however, says the kick was unintentional and came during a medical procedure. "I apologized to her for him, saying it was accidental," says Aleksandr Avilov, per RT. When the doctor came in throwing punches, Avilov says he tried to calm him, "but only received a series of blows myself." After the attack, the video shows Zelendinov trying to revive the fallen Vakhtin with chest compressions. Later, he is dragged out of the room and a hospital employee begins mopping the floor. (More Russia stories.)