Causing harm to health through negligence

Causing serious harm to health through negligence is a criminal act, the object of which is the somatic (physical) and mental health of a person.
This crime is characterized by actions on the part of the perpetrator that resulted in a certain situation during which serious damage was caused to the health of the victim. The degree of responsibility for the offense in question varies depending on the circumstances of the incident revealed during the investigation. Dear readers! To solve your specific problem, call the hotline or visit the website. It's free.
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What is it - causing harm to health through negligence?

Responsibility for a careless criminal act is provided for in Article 118 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Infliction of grievous harm in general is damage to the health of the injured person. In this case, health is meant not only physical, but also emotional.

As a rule, when harm is caused, the injured person experiences:

injury;
a disease that he had not previously had;
deterioration in general health.

As can be seen from the above list, the degree of harm caused is significant or moderate .

Such harm concerns, first of all, violations of human anatomy and the functions of his body.

If there is slight harm to health, there is no corpus delicti contained in Article 118 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

Important: despite the obvious cruelty of the crime in question, the fact of negligence mitigates the punishment, but such unintentionality still needs to be proven.

Composition and characteristics of the crime

The composition of any crime is a combination of its 4 elements: the object and the objective side, as well as the subject and the subjective side.

And now about each of the elements in order, in relation to Article 118.

The subject of a crime is an individual who has reached the age of 14 and is fully sane. For this crime, a fairly low age limit has been established, since signs of aggressiveness are often observed among teenagers.
The subjective side of the act is the absence of direct intent, and negligence in the form:
- frivolity;

By frivolity, the criminal law understands that the guilty person foresaw that his actions could cause harm to the victim, but arrogantly counted on the fact that, as they say, “everything will work out.”

Negligence as a form of negligence is when a citizen did not foresee that his actions or inactions would lead to serious harm, but should have been careful and foreseen a negative outcome.

The object of the crime is nothing more than the health of the victim, because the harm is caused directly to his body.
Finally, the objective side is usually used to designate the circle of those actions or inactions committed by the culprit that have a direct cause-and-effect relationship with the harm caused.

Difference from other types of damage

It is necessary to distinguish the composition of Article 118 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on harm due to negligence from the composition of Article 111, which is devoted to the intentional infliction of grievous harm to health. The difference here will be in the main thing - the subjective side of the crime, because in relation to Article 111 we are talking about intent. That is, the culprit of the act not only foresaw its outcome, but also wanted the victim to be harmed and for him to experience negative consequences.

All other elements of these compositions are the same.

If serious harm to health is caused as a result of an accident, the crime will be qualified not under Article 118 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, but according to a special norm - this is Article 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. But it also involves driver negligence.

What damage is considered unintentional?

According to criminal theory, in order to hold a person legally liable, it is necessary to prove the presence of four mandatory elements. This:

The subject is the person who committed the crime. Each norm of the Criminal Code has its own requirements for guilty citizens, which are limited by age. Additionally, it is stated that only physically sane persons can be brought to justice.
An object is a group of social relations that are affected by a violation. These could be property rights, human life and health, and social safety.
The objective side is a set of actions/inactions that led to negative consequences.
The subjective side is a person’s attitude towards his crime. So-called intent, which can be direct and indirect. Moreover, one can be brought to justice if a crime is committed unintentionally (frivolously, carelessly).

Harm to humans is usually understood as harm to the human body and organism through mechanical action. Such illegal acts will be recognized as unintentional if the offender did not want illegal consequences to occur, but understood that such could occur (he frivolously hoped that everything would work out).

Liability for unintentional injury to health will be assigned based on the severity of the consequences for the person. Establishing the severity of harm is the responsibility of a forensic medical expert. In total, there are three degrees of physical harm to a person. These include:

Minor harm - minor damage, which is accompanied by minor visible signs (bruises, scratches, abrasions), as well as pain. Such damage does not entail loss of legal capacity and does not require hospital treatment. Injuries are characterized by complete resolution of symptoms within one week.
Damage of moderate severity will be recognized if the injuries caused require hospital treatment, but guarantee the person’s full recovery. It is also necessary to confirm that at the time the wound was inflicted there was no threat to human life. This category will include dislocations, fractures, and concussions.
Complete dysfunction of individual organs and systems, the presence of irreversible disorders, as well as causing harm that poses a threat to human life will be regarded as grave harm.

Classification of crimes under Art. 118 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation

Significant damage to health is caused, and the crime is qualified under Article 118, when as a result of the incident:

the victim loses an organ or has lost the ability to function (vision, hearing, speech);
a severe mental disorder occurs;
pregnancy is terminated artificially or naturally (at any stage);
the face becomes disfigured and cannot be restored;
drug addiction occurs;
loss of ability to work (completely or by one third);
the citizen is dying.

Statistics

Unfortunately, there are no reliable official statistics on this type of crime. And all because serious harm to health due to negligence is a rather hidden crime. And a considerable number of citizens simply do not turn to law enforcement agencies to hold the perpetrators accountable.

Or it happens that the harm caused to the victim is not regarded as grave or moderate , and therefore such cases are written off as administrative or civil.

Controversial situations in the investigation of such cases

The investigation of such cases carries many pitfalls. This happens because there are still many options for interpreting the behavior of the accused. There are cases when its intentionality or unintentionality is obvious, but this is not always the case.

An example of a controversial situation: one person pushed another. He fell and hit his head on a concrete slab, which is why he died. The actions of the defendant led to the death of the victim, but if not for an unfortunate set of circumstances, the deceased would have escaped with bruises and abrasions.

Perhaps this would not even fit under the article about minor harm to health. Could the accused even imagine such an outcome? The decision is up to the court.

There are many such and similar situations.

IMPORTANT! Witness testimony, if any, plays a big role in the investigation.

The most common confusion occurs with the following articles:

Art. 111, part 4 of the Criminal Code, when grievous harm was caused intentionally, and the accused was fully aware of this, but did not think that it would lead to death.
Art. 105 of the Criminal Code, when a person intentionally caused damage that led to death.

What are the responsibilities?

Responsibility, or the disposition of the norm, can be found directly in the text of Article 118 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation . A judge, when passing a sentence in a criminal case, may choose one of the following types of punishment for the cause of harm (Part 1).

Monetary punishment:
- a fine of up to 80 thousand rubles;
Execution of work:
correctional – up to 2 years.
Deprivation of liberty:
arrest for up to six months.
In addition, in part two, for a special subject of a crime - a citizen performing his professional duties, More severe penalties have been established for a similar crime:
forced labor for a period of up to 1 year, while a citizen may additionally lose the right to occupy certain positions or conduct certain activities for a period of up to 3 years;
imprisonment for 1 year also with or without the additional punishment specified above.

Left in danger

Providing assistance to a person in danger is the moral duty of any person. However, in some cases the law imposes such an obligation under penalty of criminal penalties.

The objective side of the crime is that the perpetrator did not provide assistance to a person who was in a life-threatening or health-threatening condition and was deprived of the opportunity to take measures for self-preservation due to childhood, old age, illness or due to his helplessness. In this case, it must be established that the perpetrator had the opportunity to provide the necessary assistance to this person and, in addition, was obliged to take care of him (for example, parents are obliged to take care of their children) or he himself put him in a condition dangerous to life or health.

Specifically, this could be the leader of a tourist group who abandoned tourists in the mountains during a thunderstorm, a swimmer who persuaded his friend to swim across the river, promising him help, and left him, a driver who hit a person due to the gross negligence of the victim (if the driver was guilty of accident, liability arises for leaving the scene of a traffic accident (Article 265 of the Criminal Code), etc. The corpus delicti will be completed when the person could have provided assistance, but did not do so

The crime will be completed when the person could have provided assistance, but did not do so.

The subjective side is direct intent. Subject - a person who has reached 16 years of age and is obliged to provide assistance to the victim.

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What to do to punish?

To resolve such an unpleasant situation fairly and punish the guilty person, the following actions must be taken.

The victim should immediately seek first aid so that health workers can alleviate his serious physical condition.
Then it is necessary to involve law enforcement agencies, write a statement against the culprit and demand that he be prosecuted under Article 118 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
To prove the fact of causing serious or moderate harm, an examination in a hospital will not be enough. To establish real significant damage, a forensic medical examination is needed. It will be carried out with the victim after a criminal case has been opened, by order of the investigator or by a court ruling.
According to the rules for conducting a forensic medical examination, which are established officially and for all state expert institutions, the victim will be examined by an expert.
Based on the results of a medical examination of the harm caused, an “Expert Conclusion” will be drawn up - the main evidence of damage to health .
In parallel with the consideration of the criminal case, the victim should file a civil claim for compensation for damages and moral damages within the framework of the criminal case.
Receipts confirming payment for hospital treatment, medications, etc. are suitable as evidence.
The claim must be filed before the court verdict.

As for the amount of moral damage, you can demand any amount (even a very large one), because the court will in any case reduce it to a reasonable amount.

Actions on the part of the victim

Due to the specifics of this class of offenses, the victim is often unable not only to independently qualify the severity of his own injuries, but also to correctly determine the person responsible for the damage received.

In most cases, when severe injuries occur, immediate hospitalization is required, during which employees of the medical institution, based on the nature of the injuries received by the victim, are required to notify law enforcement agencies, after which the police initiate a criminal case.

The victim will only be required to present an identity card or a document replacing it, as well as a compulsory medical insurance policy for hospitalization. However, depending on the circumstances of the incident, during which the victim’s health was seriously harmed, as well as the severity of the injuries received, these documents may not be required.

An investigator will be responsible for conducting the case, whose responsibilities include clarifying the circumstances of the incident during which the victim was injured, searching for the culprit, as well as determining his motives and the degree of his guilt.

Provided that the investigation finds clear evidence of the absence of malicious intent on the part of the perpetrator and obtains the conclusion of a forensic expert on the severe degree of damage to the health of the victim, a criminal case under Art. 118 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is transferred to court, where during the proceedings the penalty for the perpetrator is established.

Infection with sexually transmitted diseases and HIV infection

In contrast to previous legislation, infecting another person with a venereal disease is punishable only if this consequence occurs. Putting one at risk of infection through sexual intercourse or any other means, if infection does not occur, does not entail criminal liability.

The method of infection does not matter - through sexual intercourse or through household means (using shared dishes, linen, towels, etc.).

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The subjective side is direct or indirect intent or frivolity. The law directly states that we are talking about a person who knew that he had a sexually transmitted disease. With direct intent, the perpetrator may be guided by the motive of revenge; with indirect intent, he may be indifferent to infecting, for example, a casual sexual partner. Frivolity can occur when a person takes measures to prevent infection, but these measures turn out to be insufficient (for example, a condom breaks during sexual intercourse). Criminal liability is excluded if sexual intercourse occurred against the will of the patient (for example, during rape).

Subject is a person over 16 years of age who suffers from a sexually transmitted disease.

There will be a qualified crime if two or more persons or a known minor are infected. It does not matter whether the person infected both persons at the same time or at different times. If the victim is a minor, the perpetrator must know about this or, in any case, assume that this person is under 18 years of age.

HIV infection is much more dangerous for humans than sexually transmitted disease. It is not yet curable. Therefore, we can agree with those scientists who consider the object of this crime not only health, but also human life. Taking into account the danger of HIV infection to life, the legislator established liability not only for infection, but also for knowingly putting a person at risk of contracting HIV infection.

The method of committing this crime is not regulated by law, but most often putting people at risk of contracting HIV infection is carried out through heterosexual or homosexual sexual contact or through the use of syringes by drug addicts.

The subjective side is characterized by the person’s awareness that he is a carrier of HIV infection, as indicated by the words “deliberate diagnosis.” This presupposes the presence of direct intent (when the perpetrator wants to infect another person), indirect intent (when he is indifferent to the possibility of infection) or frivolity (when he expects that infection will not occur, for example, due to sterilization, although, as it later turned out, not thorough enough , used syringe).

Subject is a sane individual who has reached the age of 16 and is a carrier of HIV infection.

The qualified elements of this crime are provided for in Part 2 of Art. 122 of the Criminal Code. It is established if the perpetrator infected another person with HIV infection. In this case, to qualify the crime, it does not matter whether the victim has AIDS.

A particularly qualified crime (Part 3 of Article 122) will occur in the case where two or more persons or a minor are infected, and the perpetrator must know that this person has not reached 18 years of age.

Part 4 art. 122 of the Criminal Code provides for an independent crime - infecting another person with HIV infection as a result of improper performance by a person of his professional duties. The only common consequence of the crime provided for in parts 1-3 of this article is HIV infection.

The subject of this crime is a medical worker involved in the transfusion of donor blood, the use of medical instruments or in contact with HIV-infected persons.

The objective side of this crime is expressed in the improper performance by such a person of his professional duties, violation of official instructions on the secondary use of medical instruments, their sterilization and other measures to prevent HIV infection.

Subjective side - negligence in the form of frivolity or negligence