It happens that accidents happen in life. But what if the misfortune is directly related to the employee who took the Hippocratic oath and, it would seem, had to follow the main commandment of his own profession - “do no harm”? Today we’ll talk about the negligence of doctors - is it possible to somehow bring to grief the grief specialists through whose fault people suffer? What article punishes such workers? The time has come to deal with these issues once and for all.
What does the definition of doctor negligence cover?
Despite the fact that it may seem to an ordinary citizen that a doctor is necessarily to blame for his poor health or health problems, from the point of view of legislation this, of course, is not always the case. On the one hand, not every medical error can be attributed to this phenomenon, but on the other hand, very often people who are not proficient in jurisprudence may even never know that they were the victims of medical negligence!
The negligence of doctors is determined in article 293 of the Criminal Code (CC) of the Russian Federation. The provisions described here do not directly cover the field of medicine and healthcare, but apply in principle to employees of any field in general. In relation to this topic, the negligence of doctors implies the provision of improper care or failure to provide it at all, which as a result leads to mental or bodily injury to the patient. In other words, we are dealing with neglect of the performance of official duties, followed by harm to the physical or moral well-being of a person.
What are usually negligent actions?
It would be wrong to immediately ask how to punish a doctor for negligence, because there is a great risk of erring in your own assumptions about this phenomenon. The fact is that medical negligence has its own characteristics and differs from medical error or illiteracy and inattention of staff. Thus, multiple legal practice shows that the most common manifestations of negligence in the health sector include:
- inattention to patient complaints;
- defective examination, inadequate examination or superficial, fluent diagnosis;
- improperly performed duties, including inappropriate care of a person;
- violation of professional ethics;
- excessive self-confidence, incorrect interpretation of the symptoms of the disease;
- violation of standards of care, as well as ignoring the opinions of other doctors.
Thus, the root of the crime often has a moral background - negative consequences could easily have been avoided if the employee had taken the initiative and conscientious attitude to the matter in time.
What is the nature of the crime?
When considering the case, the investigator takes into account the following provisions. It establishes the extent to which took place in each case:
- The objectivity associated with the presence of a doctor's immediate official duties, which for some reason was not performed. Factors that led to negative consequences (whether it was laziness, incompetence and disorder, or something else) are determined. The causal relationship should be investigated carefully, because the medical staff is not safe from unforeseen circumstances: perhaps the doctor took reasonable risks and did not know what this would lead to, because no one had canceled the uncertainty factor constantly present in this profession.
- Subjectivity, expressed in the presence of a specific employee and the actions that he has taken in relation to a patient who subsequently felt impaired, or for whom the therapy and treatment were fatal.
- Damage, which covers fixing the real facts of the deterioration of the patient or his death.This item has a direct connection with the ongoing medical procedures, because it is precisely the medications prescribed by the doctor or health measures that, due to side effects, usually lead to disastrous results.
What to do if all of the above provisions have occurred?
We hold the doctor accountable
Thus, the negligence of doctors consists precisely of the above items. If all of them were installed and fixed, then we can safely talk about the commission of a criminal act. How to punish a doctor for negligence? Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, already mentioned above, will help classify a crime: if it is a question of undermined health, then we are dealing with its first part, if a single death of a patient or multiple deaths of people are recorded, it is advisable to talk about the second and third parts of this article respectively. So, the establishment of the fact itself is the first point on the path to justice and holding the health worker accountable for his improper actions.
Doctors neglect: where to go for help? First instance
The starting point in bringing the medical worker to justice is the appeal to his immediate supervisor, that is, the head physician of the institution. The procedure is a free-form statement, which will indicate the main circumstances of the incident, and also reflect the direct relationship between the negligent actions of the employee and the deterioration of the patient's well-being. The result of the delivery of such an appeal, where the registration mark is placed on the second copy, is the application of disciplinary and / or material influence in relation to the subordinate. It is advisable to resort to this point when minor damage has been done to health and it is more important not so much to return moral and / or material damage as to defend one's own principles.
Ministry of Health care
If a doctor’s negligence, an article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for which it provides for real punishment, remains ignored, and the management has not reacted to the complaint submitted by the patient, the next step in the hierarchy of authorities is the Ministry of Health. It is the highest link in the field of medical activity. Here the statement is written in the same way as it was already sent to the head doctor, that is, in free form, with the only difference being that the addressee and the narrative of the incident change. After all, now the indifference of the leadership of the medical institution has also been added to the negligent attitude - this is exactly what needs to be written in detail.
Does it make sense to contact the police?
Unfortunately no. The negligence of doctors, a statement about which the injured person is likely to want to write to the law enforcement agencies, does not fall under the jurisdiction of the police, despite the presence of signs of a criminal offense.
Negligence of doctors: prosecutors - this is where to go
If the police are not responsible for the conniving attitude to their official duties, then the prosecutor’s office is just committed to establishing the rule of law in any state and commercial institutions. The legitimacy of the actions of employees can be considered only after the injured person writes a statement to the prosecutor at the scene of the incident, and also sends a similar statement to the local department of Roszdravnadzor, an organization that monitors the activities of medical institutions. Unlike the information in the above sections, the application submitted to the prosecutor's office should contain a list of certain provisions, namely:
- Indication of the address at which there was a case of negligence;
- personal data with which further feedback can be made;
- a description of the circumstances of the injury to human health or those that led to death (the exact date of the incident, the period of treatment, the name of all treatment measures, information about the health worker who was responsible for the treatment and as a result caused undesirable consequences should be indicated here) ;
- statement of the facts of the history of the appeal to the heads of the medical institution, as well as to the Ministry of Health;
- the presence of a request to conduct the necessary verification to establish the legitimacy of the doctor’s actions and the situation’s definition of “negligence of doctors” (article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, as already mentioned, although it does not determine the composition of such a crime, nevertheless, it is necessary to refer to it) ;
- a petition for the satisfaction of a specific list of requirements, which may include the payment of compensation for physical, moral or material damage, as well as criminal prosecution of a particular official.
In addition, a copy of all documents bearing weight for the case and revealing the existence of a crime must be attached to such a statement. They must be listed in the form of applications and provided along with the main form. A written appeal must end with the signature of the applicant and the date of the appeal to the prosecutor.
Going to court
If you want to omit all of the above points and simply go to court to recover compensation from a medical professional, then, alas, this will not work. An appeal to the court can only be sent after all the previous steps have already been completed, that is, in a situation where the injured person wrote a statement to the head physician responsible for the investigation by the staff in the relevant ministry, to Roszdravnadzor and the prosecutor's office. And only in cases where the latter refused to conduct an investigation and supervisory review, or if the result of the prosecutor's investigation wants to appeal, is it possible to appeal to the justice authorities. In other cases, the case will not be accepted by the court due to the lack of evidence.
Patient death: what punishment can be achieved
In the event that there has been a death due to the negligence of the doctor, as already mentioned, this case will be considered in part two of Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In such a situation, the relatives and friends of the deceased may require the following types of punishments for an incompetent medical professional:
- Imprisonment of up to 5 years and a ban on medical activities for another 3 years after release from custody;
- Forced labor for a period of 5 years and a ban on medical practice for no more than 3 years after their completion.
Death of a minor
If a child or teenager died due to unprofessional actions of a doctor, this is not an aggravating circumstance for a harsher verdict to be issued for a health worker and for a more serious punishment. In other words, here too the doctor’s negligence (the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation again helps to establish this) will be regulated by the second part of Article 293.