Defects of Rendering Medical Care: Legal Consequences of Professional Noncompetence

Abstract

The authors refer to the topic related to the establishment of justice in the protection of such constitutional rights as the right to life, the right to health, the right to medical assistance in determining how individuals with special knowledge, namely, medical professionals act as subjects, facilitating the implementation of these rights and monitoring them through, including legal mechanisms. The issues of ambiguous interpretation of the term «medical error» and the competence of commission forensic medical examination in assessing the quality of medical care are considered. The author cites the classification of defects in the provision of medical care. The concept of «medical error» is not used, since the term «medical error» is indifferent to the law, it is replaced by the term defining any illegal action of the doctor, namely - «defect in the provision of medical care». The authors identify the following types of defects of medical care: deliberate iatrogenic (deliberate defect) is a defect of medical care resulting from intentional crime; iatrogenic careless (negligent defect) is a defect of medical care, including signs of careless crimes; erroneous iatrogenic disease (medical error) - defects in the provision of medical care associated with a conscientious delusion of a medical worker that do not contain signs of intent or negligence; accidental iatrogenic disease (accident) - defects in the provision of medical care associated with an unforeseen coincidence, which does not exclude the lawful actions of medical workers. On the basis of acquaintance with practice of rendering medical care in work it is noted that specific weight of defects of rendering medical care and medical mistakes is rather big. The paper notes the data of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, giving the information of death due to medical errors in American hospitals. The paper deals with the subjective and objective causes of medical errors, the most common causes of medical errors are indicated. The data of monitoring of citizens’ appeals regarding the failure to comply with the provisions of the Federal Law of November 21, 2011 No. 323-FZ «On the fundamentals of protecting the health of citizens in the Russian Federation». Analyzed appeals of citizens of the Russian Federation, containing claims in view of improper performance by medical workers of their official duties. The materials are presented taking into account the appeal to the foreign experience of regulation of these issues.