9 minutes
Challenging a military medical board
The commonest mistake in these cases is to expect the court to review the medicine. It will not. A court does not assess a diagnosis and does not decide whether you are fit to serve. It checks one thing: whether the board followed the procedure. The case is therefore won not in the courtroom but at the re-examination — and everything done before it decides the outcome.
What you are actually challenging
What is challenged is the board's ruling — the document stating a fitness category. In 2026 the board issues four principal findings: fit for military service; fit for service in support units; unfit, with re-examination in 6 to 12 months; and unfit, with removal from the military register.
For those liable for service the finding is valid for a year. A lost case is therefore not final — but it costs a year of your life.
The central limitation: a court does not practise medicine
This has to be understood before filing. The administrative court says plainly that it is not a specialist medical institution and may not assess the professional acts of doctors. It cannot write "declared unfit" into its judgment. The most a won case delivers is the ruling set aside and the board ordered to examine you again, this time by the rules.
Two routes: the higher board and the court
The boards form a hierarchy and each level reviews the one below. A ruling by a non-standing board — a garrison or hospital board — is challenged before the regional board or straight to the Central board. A regional board's ruling goes to the Central board or to court. A Central board ruling can only go to court.
30 days for the complaint to a higher board. Six months to file in the administrative court if you go there directly. Three months if you complained to a higher board first — running from the day you received its reply. The drop from six months to three catches out people who try both routes in sequence.
What courts actually set rulings aside for
The ground is almost always the same: a breach of procedure. Here is how that looks in real cases.
- Examined in a single day. In case No. 340/2690/25 the Kirovohrad District Administrative Court set a ruling aside because the man was examined and declared fit within one day. The Regulation requires blood pressure to be measured repeatedly across several visits, which is physically impossible in a day. For those over forty, intraocular pressure and a blood sugar test are also mandatory, and there was no evidence either had been done.
- Not all conditions considered. In case No. 420/18770/22 the Fifth Administrative Court of Appeal upheld a serviceman's claim precisely because the board had failed to take all of his diagnoses into account.
- Medical records ignored. If you submitted a discharge summary or a specialist's opinion and the examination file makes no mention of it, that is the same failure of thoroughness.
In case No. 420/21277/24 the Odesa District Administrative Court dismissed a claim by a man who argued he had not been seen by a neurologist or a psychiatrist. The court did not reach the merits: the claimant had not used his right of review before the regional and Central boards. A step that takes thirty days cost him the entire case.
Until mid-2023, complaints against medical board rulings succeeded in roughly 97 cases out of a hundred. After mid-2023 that share fell sharply. We deliberately offer no comment on why — the figure is set out as it stands, and readers may draw their own conclusions.
Preparing for the re-examination
Since winning in court delivers a re-examination, what you bring to it decides everything. It has to be prepared in advance, not after the judgment.
- Recent investigations from specialist institutions. Not a note from a family doctor, but a specialist's opinion using the same wording of the diagnosis that appears in the Schedule of Diseases.
- A history, not an episode. A single result persuades weakly. A trend over several months persuades far better.
- A written statement listing every condition. Filed under an incoming reference number, setting out each diagnosis. That leaves a trace in the file that the board knew of them.
- A copy of everything you hand over. Boards take originals. Without a stamped copy it is next to impossible to prove a document was ever submitted.
Order of steps
In short
A court does not change a fitness category — it checks whether the board followed the procedure and, where it did not, sends you back for a fresh examination. Thirty days for the complaint to a higher board, three or six months for the claim. Rulings are set aside almost always for an incomplete examination: assessed in a day, diagnoses ignored, mandatory tests missing. And the preparation that matters is not for the hearing but for the re-examination, because that is what determines what the new ruling will say.
Disagree with a medical board ruling?
Bring the ruling and your medical records — we will look at whether the procedure was breached and whether the deadlines still stand.