Clerical error falsely labels Kazakh man as ‘mentally disabled’ for years
A young man’s life was upended for years after a simple clerical error falsely labeled him as «mentally disabled» in a national psychiatric database, preventing him from securing employment, a mortgage, or even keeping his driver’s license. Despite discovering the mistake years ago, health officials refused to correct the record without a court order, Kazpravda reported.
A case of mistaken identity
The ordeal began in 2022 when the resident of Ust-Kamenogorsk, eastern Kazakhstan, was rejected by a major metallurgical firm due to a medical flag in the electronic register. An investigation revealed that in 2015, a medical worker in the nearby city of Ridder accidentally swapped his medical card number with that of another patient who shared his surname and initials. While the error was technically identified by staff years ago, the digital database was never updated, leaving the man legally categorized as having «mild mental retardation».
The cost of bureaucratic indifference
For years, the victim faced systemic rejection. Police confiscated his driver’s license, and banks denied him mortgages, essentially treating him as legally incapacitated. When he sought help from the regional Center for Mental Health, officials admitted the mistake but claimed fixing it was «outside their competence,» instructing him to resolve the issue through the legal system. During the trial, a center representative admitted this was standard practice, effectively shifting the burden of correcting administrative errors onto the judiciary.
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The specialized inter-district administrative court of the East Kazakhstan region ultimately ruled in the man’s favor, citing constitutional protections for human dignity. The court issued a formal reprimand to the Ministry of Healthcare, condemning the «indifference and inaction» of officials who ignored established algorithms for correcting data errors.
