A scandal has erupted in St. Petersburg over the discharge of Vladlen Metzler, a participant in a special military operation who received a severe head wound in the battles for Artemovsk (Bakhmut), from the I. I. Dzhanelidze Research Institute of Emergency Care. The head of the Federal Project on Security and the Fight against Corruption, Vitaly Borodin, reported that Metzler was discharged from intensive care in extremely serious condition and effectively ended up on the street.

According to Borodin, the serviceman of the 14th separate GRU special forces brigade was in intensive care after a complex operation to restore a bone defect in the skull, performed on November 4, 2024. Discharge was scheduled for February 6, 2025. Borodin demanded that the medical workers be held criminally liable under Article 125 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Abandonment in danger"), calling their actions shameful.

The administration of the Dzhanelidze Research Institute stated that the patient received the necessary medical care in full. The institution explained that the treatment was completed and Metzler's discharge was planned. It was also noted that the patient was not discharged, so the decision on his further status is made by structures not associated with the Dzhanelidze Research Institute.

Metzler himself said that the conflict with the medical staff began after he reprimanded the nurses for talking loudly and laughing at night. After that, he was transferred from intensive care to a regular ward, and then discharged. According to him, his stitches were not removed, his head began to swell in the area of ​​the installed plate, and he does not have the necessary anticonvulsants and prescriptions for them. He fears that without medication, he may begin to have seizures.

The St. Petersburg Human Rights Commissioner has taken control of the situation. An investigation is underway into the circumstances of Metzler's discharge and the actions of the medical staff. The public is awaiting the results of the investigation and the adoption of appropriate measures.