Medical negligence: how to prove, what documents to provide and the procedure for attracting a doctor for negligence

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What is medical negligence

A clear definition of the concept of “negligence” is contained in Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The same article also establishes the liability to which a person who has shown negligence may be held.

Based on the norms enshrined in the above article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, negligence is understood as non-fulfillment, as well as improper fulfillment, by an official of his direct duties due to dishonest attitude towards service or work.

We especially note that in order to qualify negligence, it is necessary that the victim suffers large or especially large damage. Major damage means damage the amount of which exceeds 1,500,000 rubles, and especially large damage – exceeds 7,000,000 rubles.

Negligence of a medical worker is understood as complete inaction, as well as actions the level of which does not correspond to the professional level of this employee in the performance of his official duties, if these actions caused harm to the life and health of the patient.

What is medical negligence, how to define it and bring criminals to justice?

Human incompetence, laziness or underestimation of the seriousness of a particular situation when performing one’s official duties is a fairly common phenomenon, but due to the specifics of the functions performed, such connivance can be harmless to others or have socially significant negative consequences.

In both cases, when classifying a person’s behavior, we can talk about it, but in the latter case, with the material or physical well-being of other people or society, criminal liability may arise for the consequences of a harmful action or inaction. There is no individual article or legal norm regarding the negligence of medical workers, and their causing damage to the physical well-being of patients or premature death must be considered as neglect of duty. The duties of any official mean actions and behavior patterns that are prescribed to him by various norms specified in laws, rules, regulations, instructions or other documents and regulating his professional activities.

Being a physician, a doctor can commit a crime in cases where the decision he makes is capable of adversely affecting the health of the patient or causing death. Based on this, the crime is characterized by a combination of the following facts: Objectivity, expressed in the presence of an official duty that was not performed by the doctor due to laziness, carelessness or underestimation of the seriousness of the situation, and this led to devastating consequences. The cause-and-effect relationship must be obvious and formalized, since the presence of an uncertainty factor during treatment frees medical staff from responsibility, because they could not know about the occurrence of negative consequences and took a justifiable medical risk.

Subjectivity, determined by the presence of a specific medical professional whose actions led to a deterioration in the physical well-being of the patient or his.

What liability does a doctor bear for negligence?

Attention! An employee of a medical institution who has committed improper performance of official duties, resulting in harm to the life and health of a citizen, may be held liable for the following types of liability:

• disciplinary. The employee may be reprimanded, reprimanded, or fired;
• material. The employee may be deprived of his bonus. Both the employee who committed negligence and the manager of this employee are held liable;
• civil law. A citizen who has suffered from the negligence of medical workers has the right to demand payment of compensation for damage caused, as well as for moral damage;
• criminal Applies if, as a result of the negligence of a medical worker, serious harm, including death, was caused to the health of a citizen.

In addition, for the negligence shown by an employee, the medical institution in which this employee works may be fined.

The doctor made the wrong diagnosis: how to punish him?

How to write a complaint to the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, read here.

What to do if you are denied hospitalization, read the link:

Reasons for complaining about a doctor

To file a complaint against the actions of a doctor, a hospital patient, regardless of whether it is a city clinic or a private one, must prove the grounds for such a procedural action.

The following circumstances are considered the main reasons for filing a complaint against employees of medical institutions:

• failure to provide medical care to a patient in a timely manner;
• physician error in determining the diagnosis;
• refusal of a health worker to provide assistance to a patient;
• negligent actions on the part of an employee of a medical institution;
• error in prescribing medications;
• deterioration of the patient’s condition after following the doctor’s recommendations;
• medical error during surgery;
• unreasonable expenses for medications that were not necessary;
• inappropriate behavior of the doctor, rude attitude, carelessness.

When the above circumstances are identified, the patient has the opportunity to exercise his constitutional right to appeal to higher authorities to protect his own interests.

Note! If a patient has recorded a violation of sanitary standards and hygiene, this may also serve as grounds for filing a complaint against a specific doctor.

Punishment provided by law

Important! Based on the norms enshrined in Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, a medical worker who has shown negligence, as a result of which major damage was caused to a citizen, may suffer one of the following penalties:

• imposition of a fine in the amount of up to 120,000 rubles;
• compulsory work for up to 360 hours;
• correctional labor for up to 12 months;
• arrest for up to 3 months.

If, as a result of negligent actions, a citizen suffered particularly large damage, the medical worker who committed negligence may suffer one of the following penalties:

• imposition of a fine in the amount of 250,000 to 500,000 rubles;
• compulsory work for up to 480 hours;
• correctional labor for up to 24 months;
• arrest for up to 6 months.

Let us note that the court has the right, in addition to one of the above penalties, to impose a ban on a citizen’s carrying out medical activities for a period of up to 3 years.

The punishment is significantly tougher if, as a result of negligence shown by a medical worker, the life and health of a citizen was caused by serious harm, even death.

Attention! Our qualified lawyers will assist you free of charge and around the clock on any issues. Find out more here.

In this case, the doctor who committed negligence may suffer one of the following penalties:

• forced labor for up to 5 years;
• imprisonment for up to 5 years if grievous harm to the patient’s health was caused;
• imprisonment for up to 7 years if the patient died.

The above penalties may be accompanied by a ban on medical activities for up to 3 years.

Please note! The Criminal Code also contains other articles establishing the liability of medical workers.

Article 123 “Illegal artificial termination of pregnancy”, if no harm was caused to the life and health of the patient, provides for punishment:

• imposition of a fine in the amount of up to 80,000 rubles;
• compulsory work for up to 480 hours;
• correctional labor for up to 2 years.

If the patient’s health has been seriously harmed, including death, one of the following penalties will be applied::

• forced labor for up to 5 years;
• imprisonment for up to 5 years.

The negligence of doctors led to the death of the patient, what to do, where to write a statement

“It consists of a general, generic concept of negligence, which is criminal if consequences occur.

In relation to medical workers, this crime is charged in accordance with the job descriptions that they must carry out precisely as a responsible person. And also provided that they fail to fulfill the required duties, which led to a significant impairment of the health of citizens or the death of the patient. It is necessary to take into account that some categories of medical workers work with patients who are on the verge of life and death.

Therefore, the definition of a crime in the activities of doctors is based solely on the facts and standards for the performance of functional duties.

Imputation of liability for medical negligence is carried out on the basis of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation only if the doctor performed the duties of an official.

In other cases, liability is imputed on other grounds.

There is no separate crime for medical errors. Negligence occurs in the work of nurses, maternity hospital doctors and medical workers in other specialties and areas. Not all actions that lead to negative results for the patient can be characterized as medical negligence.

So, what is medical negligence? This is a concept that means failure to provide, as well as untimely or inappropriate provision of assistance by a medical employee or organization, as a result of which harm was caused to the life or health of the patient. Most often, the indifference of doctors can manifest itself: when a patient complains, the doctor does not listen to them attentively, as a result, treatment may be prescribed incorrectly; examination and examination are carried out incompletely and of poor quality; during the patient’s rehabilitation period, inattentive monitoring of the patient’s condition can lead to complications; due to overconfidence are misinterpreted

Where to go

In order to hold a medical worker responsible for negligence, it is first necessary to file a complaint with the head of the medical institution where the worker works.

The complaint must contain the following information:

• full name and address of the medical institution;
• last name, first name and patronymic, as well as the position of the manager to whom the complaint is sent (usually the head of the medical institution is headed by the chief physician);
• a detailed statement of the circumstances of the incident, indicating specific dates and actions performed by the employee who was negligent;
• specific requirements that the citizen seeks to satisfy;
• the application is sealed with the citizen’s handwritten signature with a transcript and indicating the date of signing.

ATTENTION! View the completed sample complaint to the head physician:

The head of the medical institution is given 10 days to consider the complaint on its merits and provide a response.

Attention! If the response provided by the management of the medical institution does not satisfy the citizen, as well as if the complaint was not answered at all, the complaint can be sent to the following authorities:

• regional or federal ministry of health. A complaint can be filed by a citizen in person or using a special complaint filing service located on the official website of the ministry on the Internet. The application submitted to the ministry must contain the same information as the complaint previously sent to the head of the medical institution. In addition, in this statement it should be noted that the citizen is not satisfied with the response received from the management of the medical institution, or that the complaint filed remained unanswered. Consideration of the application on its merits will take the ministry about a month, after which a response will be sent to the citizen;
• Insurance Company. The application is made in simple written form. The insurance company has the right to conduct an investigation of the incident and, if necessary, an independent examination and evaluate the actions performed by the medical worker;
• Prosecutor's office. The application must be submitted to the Prosecutor's Office at the place of the incident. A citizen’s appeal will allow us to initiate an inspection of the medical institution. Based on the results of the inspection, the Prosecutor's Office will evaluate the actions performed by the medical worker, and if negligence is detected in his actions, initiate holding this worker accountable;
• Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare. Along with the application to the Prosecutor's Office, the citizen must send a statement of similar content to the territorial division of the Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare;
• courts. A citizen can go to court only if appeals to the above authorities have not yielded results, that is, the possibilities for pre-trial settlement have been exhausted.

Watch the video. Criminal liability of medical workers:

Where can you complain about a doctor?

When determining how to complain about the actions of a doctor in a clinic, you need to know exactly to which higher authority such a complaint is being filed.

Note! When filing complaints against the actions of doctors, one should not distinguish between doctors in clinics and hospitals. Regardless of this factor, the appeal is submitted to the appropriate and uniform authority for all.

The management of a medical institution is the first authority where you can complain. Depending on which of the health workers committed the violations, the complaint can be submitted to the head of the department, or directly to the hospital management - the chief physician. The complaint must receive a written response.

How to make an application to the Prosecutor's Office and Roszdravnadzor

The actions of doctors can be checked for compliance only after receiving a written request from a citizen.

The citizen must send the application to the Prosecutor's Office at the place of the incident, as well as to the territorial division of the Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare.

ATTENTION! Look at the completed sample application to the Prosecutor's Office for a doctor:

The application sent to the Prosecutor's Office and the Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare must contain the following information:

• the exact address of the place where the medical professional committed negligence;
• contact details of the citizen submitting the application;
• a detailed description of how negligence on the part of a medical professional caused harm to the life and health of a citizen. It is necessary to indicate the exact date and, if possible, time of the incident, the period the citizen was under treatment, information about the medications and manipulations prescribed to the citizen, as well as about the medical workers who made these prescriptions;
• a description of the citizen’s appeal to the management of the medical institution and the Ministry of Health and the results to which these appeals led;
• a specific request to conduct an audit of the actions of medical workers to determine whether these actions constitute a crime;
• other requirements that the citizen seeks to satisfy.

The application must be accompanied by copies of medical documentation in the citizen’s possession and relevant to this situation. This documentation is listed in the list of applications. The application is sealed with the citizen’s handwritten signature indicating the date of signing. 1 month is allotted for consideration of this application on its merits.

ATTENTION! View the completed complaint form to Roszdravnadzor:

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We will tell you when you can contact this government service, and we will also provide a sample complaint against a doctor, on the basis of which you can draw up your own appeal.

Each of us, when visiting a doctor, expects to receive timely and competent assistance in full. And this is not surprising, because a doctor is a person who is obliged to monitor the health of citizens and at the same time comply with the laws and regulations under which medical services are provided.

• A complete list of papers or documents that can serve as evidence of your case;
• Applicant's signature with transcript;
• Date of application.

• Keep the tone of the letter businesslike ;
• Avoid insults and false accusations;
• Write only facts;
• Describe your position informatively, but at the same time as briefly as possible.

Absolutely every official statement begins with a title. Its peculiarity is that the information is written in the upper right part of the sheet, in a narrow column - in the left part, the prosecutor's office must put its own stamps and notes already in the process of considering your complaint. The following information must be included in the header.

a statement of claim against doctors can be filed in court here in WORD format

Civil marriage presupposes legally free relations between citizens. The law does not bind spouses with any obligations, and therefore inheritance rights to the property of a common-law spouse do not apply in almost all cases. There may be exceptions.

We will tell you about them and determine under what circumstances a common-law wife will be able to inherit the inheritance of her common-law partner.

When planning to complain to authorities about employees of medical institutions, a citizen of the Russian Federation must remember that any paper must be drawn up legally correctly. As such, there is no single sample, but there are different types of complaints.

A complaint to the police or the administration of a medical institution can be filed using any of the above templates. When writing an appeal to the prosecutor's office, remember that it is approximately the same as to the court, and is formatted in the same way.

Statement of claim to court

It must be emphasized that before going to court with a claim to recover compensation from a medical worker for damage caused, it is necessary to go through the stages preceding the court.

Only after an attempt at pre-trial settlement has not led to the desired results, a citizen has the right to seek protection of legal rights and interests in the courts.

Thus, you can go to court only if the Prosecutor’s Office refused to carry out an inspection, or the inspection carried out did not bring the results that the citizen is seeking. Otherwise, the claim will be rejected.

The statement of claim must contain the following information:

• full name of the court to which the claim is sent;
• last name, first name and patronymic of the citizen filing the claim, as well as the address of registration and actual residence, contact telephone number;
• information about the medical institution where the incident of negligence occurred;
• information about the medical worker who committed negligence. It is necessary to indicate the last name, first name and patronymic of this employee, position held, and so on;
• a detailed description of the circumstances under which the medical professional committed negligence, as well as evidence of the commission of this negligence;
• the requirements that the citizen seeks to satisfy;
• list of documentation attached to the statement of claim.

The statement of claim must be sent to the place of residence or registration of the defendant.

ATTENTION! Look at the completed sample claim to court for compensation for personal injury:

Statement of medical negligence sample 2020

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An application for medical negligence is written in free form; there is no specific sample.

However, it is advisable to indicate the following points in the complaint in order to make life as simple as possible for both yourself and the body receiving the complaint.

1. At the end, the signature of the applicant and the date of the complaint are placed.
2. Next, indicate the contact information of the applicant, namely: full name, residential address, telephone number.
3. In the center of the document its name is written (For example, “Claim against the actions of the surgeon”).
4. The name of the authority to which the complaint is being sent. In case of claims against a specific official, his full name and position held by him are indicated. In the case of an appeal to a specific body, its full name and actual address are indicated.
5. Next, you must describe the current circumstances in as much detail as possible, without unnecessary emotions. It is advisable to indicate specific legal norms that were violated.
6. After this, there is a list of demands for the exercise of one’s rights, compensation for expenses incurred, taking appropriate measures against the perpetrators, etc.

If you wish, you can provide copies of documents as evidence to prove that you are right.

The more such evidence is provided, the higher the chances of winning the case.

This is the last instance where you should file a claim only if all the other methods listed above have already been tried and only when they have not yielded any results.

In this case, the application form will be slightly different.

Since the application can no longer be drawn up in any form, the above information must also include information about the defendant and about compliance with the pre-trial procedure for resolving the dispute. The decision to accept or refuse to consider the application is made within five days.

Before filing an application to court, you must try to resolve the case with the help of other authorities:

1. Doctor's Guide.

If medical negligence led to the death of a patient, where to go and how to protect your rights

Moscow Mon-Sun 9:00-23:00 Legal consultation » » 26,683 views , , , , , When health problems arise, we all turn to doctors. However, unfortunately, it is not uncommon for a doctor’s negligence to lead to the death of a patient.

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And here, in addition to the grief of loved ones, the question arises of holding the doctor himself accountable.

When a doctor’s mistake leads to the death of a patient, it is immediately important for relatives to take the first steps in order to seek compensation for material and moral damage.

In particular, before contacting law enforcement agencies or the court, it is necessary to initiate a series of examinations to determine the actual cause of death of the patient. Contents of the article: First of all, it is necessary to appeal to the patient’s medical card and his medical history.

After all, the negligent attitude of doctors can consist not only in an erroneous choice of treatment method, but also in an incorrect diagnosis.

In addition, medical negligence leading to the death of a patient is reliably established through forensic medical examinations.

In some cases, it is necessary to carry out several of them in order to fully clarify the truth. In some cases, exhumation of the body is required so that experts can conduct their research. This entire process must be carried out in full compliance with the norms of the Criminal Procedure Law.

If you have suffered an accident due to medical negligence, seek legal advice from an attorney. He will be able to set priorities and tell you the right course of your actions.

If the careless attitude of doctors led to the death of the patient, Article 293 of the Criminal Code will be the main one for the investigative authorities. At the same time, it is possible that the actions of doctors can be qualified under other provisions of the criminal law. For example, when the carelessness of doctors led a patient to a coma, then charges can be brought under other articles.

Time limits for consideration of a claim on its merits

Remember! The current legislation of the Russian Federation has not established time limits for conducting trials in cases of this category. Thus, the courts have the opportunity to allow the parties to the case to familiarize themselves with documents, collect evidence, and prepare for consideration of the case on the merits.

Based on the norms enshrined in Article 227 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, the judge appointed by the chairman of the court to consider the case on the merits independently determines the date for which the court hearing is scheduled. When setting this date, the judge takes into account the complexity of the case under consideration, the workload of the court, the volume of documents and other circumstances.

The date of the first court hearing must be determined within 30 days from the date of receipt of the statement of claim. If one of the parties to the case is taken into custody, this period is reduced to 14 days.

How to prove medical malpractice. See example.

Remember that in accordance with Art.

19 of the Law On the Fundamentals of Protecting the Health of Citizens in the Russian Federation, the patient has the right, among other things, to choose a doctor and a medical organization. Failure to take action on an oral statement should result in a complaint against the doctor. This tool will allow you to defend not only your rights, but also, possibly, protect other patients from incompetent medical workers. You can file a complaint against the doctor simultaneously with all of the above authorities. Then attention to the problem will certainly be drawn, and the response to the complaint against the doctor will be under the control of management.

You can send the document by mail, or leave it at the reception of a medical institution or health committee (put a receipt stamp on the second copy). You can also file a complaint against a doctor electronically via the Internet.

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