After a Patient's Death at a Hospital Near Mladá Boleslav, an Independent Review Confirms Medical Errors — the Family Still Hasn't Received an Apology

In June last year, a patient named Jan Boček died in the follow-up care ward in Mnichovo Hradiště, part of the Klaudian Hospital in Mladá Boleslav, Czechia. His son, Radek Boček, says that more than a year after his father's death, the family still hasn't received a single apology from the hospital's management — even though an independent expert review officially confirmed medical errors.

The man was admitted to hospital in May 2025 after a head injury. He was first treated in the neurology department, then transferred a week later to a follow-up care ward about 15 kilometres from the main building. Three weeks later, he died there. Relatives had already been worried about the quality of his care during the hospitalisation: according to his son, his father lost weight dramatically and couldn't swallow ordinary food, and the family pushed for him to be given artificial nutrition — to no avail.

After his father's death, the family filed a formal complaint with the Central Bohemian Regional Authority, the hospital's sole shareholder, and demanded an autopsy. Initially, the hospital rejected all the accusations, insisting that staff had acted correctly and that the patient had received all available care.

However, an independent review commissioned by the region reached a different conclusion: according to the findings, the treatment did not meet proper professional standards (lege artis). The expert pointed to several failures at once: a patient whose condition was deteriorating should have been transferred in time to an intensive care bed with a full range of diagnostics; doctors prescribed corticosteroids to a diabetic patient without sufficient justification; and not once during the hospitalisation was a chest X-ray performed — even though, according to the autopsy results, acute purulent bronchopneumonia was the actual cause of death.

The expert also noted serious gaps in the medical records: there were no entries on blood oxygen levels or on fluid and food intake, some data had been entered by hand, and certain records appeared to have been copied. Following the review, the regional authority found the complaint justified and opened proceedings over a suspected violation of the law on maintaining medical records.

Hospital spokeswoman Jana Petrová acknowledges only "partial shortcomings" — insufficiently detailed documentation and weak coordination between departments. According to her, staff have already undergone additional training, internal audits have been introduced, and since February this year the follow-up care ward has had a new head physician tasked with improving cooperation with the internal medicine department.

At the same time, the hospital rejected the family's demand for out-of-court compensation of 3.3 million crowns, referring the matter to its insurer. The insurance company also refused, saying it found no sufficient grounds to hold the hospital liable for the patient's death. Regional spokeswoman Jana Pancířová stresses that acknowledging violations within a complaint does not automatically entitle anyone to compensation — that issue, in the event of a dispute, is for the courts to decide. According to the regional authority, this is the only complaint filed against the Mnichovo Hradiště follow-up care ward in the past ten years.

Radek Boček says the hospital's management essentially ignored him: no one from the administration agreed to meet him in person despite repeated requests, and contact was maintained mostly by phone through the legal department. "I wanted to discuss what happened, for example, regarding the treatment decisions, but no one wanted to talk about it," he says. The hospital, for its part, claims that its communication was always appropriate to the nature of the complaint, and that condolences were offered to the family in its written response.

The family intends to pursue compensation through the courts.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz