Often, when our state is compared with any other country, one of the first arguments that comes to mind is that Russia has free education and medicine. At the same time, ask any Russian person what free medicine is, and in most cases the answer will be: “it’s bad medicine.”
Like any other public opinion, this could not arise without compelling reasons, and we will discuss one of them in this article. More precisely, what is medical negligence, and what to do if you are unlucky enough to encounter it one day.
Definition of negligence - Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation
Why does a patient who is faced with poor medical care, illiteracy of a doctor, or simply his careless attitude towards the health of his sick ward need to familiarize himself with Article 293?
The fact is that any actions of a doctor that entailed any damage to the patient’s health, with the exception of when the doctor intentionally brought the person to death (the emphasis here is on the word “intentionally”), is automatically designated in further proceedings as medical negligence , article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation No. 293 will be the first under which such a case will be carried out.
So, the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation defines medical negligence as skimping or poor performance of their work duties, which resulted in damage to the health of an innocent person.
Actually, Article 293 includes not only medical negligence, but also any other that entails harm to another person due to the failure of an official.
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.
Negligence of doctors
Before we figure out where you can send your complaint about a doctor’s poor performance, let’s talk directly about medical negligence itself, examples of which can be different. Let us give the most basic sad precedents.
- Poor or incomplete treatment. There are cases when, due to a lack of beds in the hospital, the patient was discharged prematurely without further treatment, which is why the person’s well-being often worsened.
- Incorrect diagnosis and, as a result, treatment. Of course, there are illiterate specialists in any field, but the worst thing is if such a person is entrusted with taking care of your health. A good doctor, having doubts about the cause of the patient’s poor health, will prescribe additional tests or procedures to get to the bottom of the cause of the disease. A bad doctor is an overly self-confident doctor.
- Inadequate treatment. Of course, if your treatment takes place in a paid clinic, then the risk of incomplete treatment almost disappears. No one claims that in a paid hospital there is no risk of getting an illiterate specialist, but all procedures in such institutions are paid, so they will definitely prescribe all the necessary procedures for you, sometimes including a couple of extra ones on the list, “just in case.”
- An indifferent attitude towards the patient or, even worse, a biased attitude . Many of us have often heard this formulation: “a doctor is a sexless being.” It means that a doctor should treat a person, regardless of his own views and preferences. Someone acts quite the opposite, deliberately aggravating the patient’s condition due to the conflict that has arisen between them, and someone acts according to this concept even too zealously: they are indifferent to any complaints of their patient due to laziness or for some other reason.
- Death. Yes, we all understand that the death of a patient is not always the fault of the doctor, because there are cases where medicine was almost powerless to do anything, but we also understand that the cause of death can be the negligence of medical workers. Up to an incorrectly inserted catheter.
There are, of course, more examples than were mentioned, and only the most basic and common ones were named. Let's now discuss how to hold a doctor liable for negligence and what authorities to contact.
Arbitrage practice
Judicial practice shows that the judge takes the side of the plaintiff if sufficient evidence is provided that the medical worker committed negligence, as a result of which the patient suffered. The amount of moral or material compensation is calculated based on the actual damage caused.
Thus, in 2008, the court of the Kalininsky district of Novosibirsk ordered medical workers to pay 2 million rubles to a patient who suffered from medical negligence. Due to errors in the prescription, a 35-year-old girl had her leg amputated. As a result, she not only spent large sums on treatment, but was also able to work and, together with her minor daughter, remained below the poverty line. The court took into account all the circumstances of the case and then decided to pay compensation in full. In 2021, a 10-year-old child was admitted to the Ingush Republican Hospital with a diagnosis of ARVI and stomatitis, cerebral palsy. In the emergency department, the girl was seen by an infectious disease doctor who prescribed an incomplete examination and symptomatic treatment. A day later, the child’s condition worsened, she fell into a coma and died. She was posthumously diagnosed with diabetes mellitus.
The girl's parents filed a lawsuit alleging negligence of a medical result that caused harm to health, resulting in death. The court took into account all the circumstances of the case, including the fact that the doctor did not prescribe a biochemical blood test, which would have made it possible to make a correct diagnosis in a timely manner and prescribe timely treatment. The inaction of an infectious disease doctor was considered in accordance with Part 1 of Art. 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
Where to contact
First, you should contact a third-party specialist who will document that the damage to your health was the result of the doctor’s negligence.
Not all citizens are knowledgeable in the intricacies of medical care and cannot draw a connection between the improper work of a doctor and the deterioration of their own health, so another doctor from another institution will perfectly help this situation. It is better not to address this question to employees of the same organization where you received treatment.
Once the fact of negligence has been established, a whole road of various authorities opens before you to which you can complain.
Chief physician
Of course, we need to start with the hospital management.
Contact the head physician with a complaint and provide evidence. You can demand either repeated, high-quality treatment, or compensation for damage to health that was caused.
In this case, everything depends on the head physician; he can either satisfy your request, refuse it or simply ignore it.
Ministry of Health and Prosecutor's Office
If you were refused by the hospital , the next step would be to contact the Ministry of Health. This is the highest level in the medical hierarchy, and you can safely go there, indicating in your application not only the fact of poor medical care, but also the indifference of management.
If the ministry employees did not hear you, which, unfortunately, happens, contact the prosecutor's office. She directly controls the work of all government agencies, and it is she who will deal with legal proceedings related to them. He will order an examination in the future (we will talk about it a little later) and open a criminal case.
Insurance and police
You can also contact an insurance company, even if you only have compulsory insurance. Unfortunately, according to statistics, not all insurers undertake to resolve such issues, although this is part of their obligations to policyholders. You should carefully study the various reviews of people who contacted your insurance company in a similar matter and how it turned out.
It is worth clarifying about the police, who do not deal with complaints of medical negligence. You should contact the police only if you are sure that the doctor caused harm to your health intentionally, and not because of laziness, illiteracy or indifference.
Court
So, if all of the above authorities turned a deaf ear to your complaints, all you have to do is sue the doctor for negligence. We didn’t talk about it earlier only because the court is a last resort, and it will only consider your complaint if you have already contacted the hospital management and the prosecutor’s office, but were not satisfied with the result.
Liability and consequences of medical negligence
What is the criminal liability of a doctor? If it was nevertheless proven, then the specialist will face the following penalties, dictated by Article 239:
- A fine of up to 120 thousand rubles, arrest for up to 3 months and compulsory or corrective labor for up to 1 year - if the damage was minor.
- Forced labor for up to 5 years, a ban on further medical practice for up to 3 years, or imprisonment for up to 7 years - if the consequence of the specialist’s negligence was the death of the patient or serious harm was caused to him.
Read what to do if your child is beaten at school.
And here’s where to complain if a husband beats his wife.
Line of defense - how to prove the absence of a crime
We have looked at how to punish a doctor for negligence, but have not yet discussed the possibility of legally avoiding punishment.
During the investigation, the investigator who directly conducts the case pays attention to three points that must be present in order for negligence to be proven.
- First, the connection between the injury caused and negligence (which implies the indifference or laziness of the specialist) must be discovered.
- Secondly, the deterioration of a person’s health must be a direct consequence of the prescribed treatment, and not other, third-party factors.
- Thirdly, there must be one specific employee whose actions resulted in a deterioration in the patient’s well-being or death.
All these points confirm the employee’s negligence, and if even one is excluded from the case, the employee’s guilt will not be proven. That is why in this matter you should cooperate with a competent lawyer who will help you prove that you are right, since it will be unlikely to do this on your own.
Legislative framework
Proper care from medical professionals is not only the wish of the patient, but also a requirement of law and other regulations.
In carrying out their activities, doctors must be guided by:
- Federal Law No. 323-FZ of November 21, 2011 “On the fundamentals of protecting the health of citizens in the Russian Federation,” which contains the main responsibilities of medical workers;
- Code of Professional Ethics for Physicians of the Russian Federation – establishes certain rules of behavior and work with patients for doctors;
- Federal Law No. 326-FZ of November 29, 2010 “On Compulsory Medical Insurance in the Russian Federation” regulates the list of medical services provided to citizens free of charge;
- Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia dated May 15, 2012 No. 543n “On approval of the Regulations on the organization of provision of primary health care to the adult population” regulates the activities of clinics and other medical organizations providing outpatient services, i.e. without placing the patient in a hospital.
