In recent years, there have been a lot of cases where poor quality medical services have negatively impacted people’s lives. For some, it all ended in death, and relatives tried for a long time and unsuccessfully to achieve the truth, others were injured, became disabled, or suffered serious harm to their health. Still others suffered serious moral suffering and did not receive the desired result from the actions of medical workers (for example, they became clients of an unscrupulous plastic surgery or cosmetology clinic). There is an opinion that it is almost impossible to achieve justice for unprofessional actions or inaction of doctors. This is facilitated by the often formal attitude of law enforcement and supervisory authorities towards cases of this kind, and the inert action of the victims themselves. If you do not want to limit yourself to a complaint about poor-quality medical services, you want to receive financial compensation commensurate with the suffering caused and punish those responsible, be sure to treat the information described below with the utmost care. Qualified lawyers who have the necessary experience in resolving litigation with medical institutions will tell you what you can claim, what measure of liability is possible for the clinic and separately for the doctor, in what sequence to act and what documents to prepare for this.
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What documents should be kept and never lost?
Any documents confirming the existence of civil legal relations with a medical institution. These can be cash receipts for payment for services, contracts and receipt orders, doctor’s prescriptions, as well as any medical documents and examination results - tests, cardiograms and encephalograms, and other means of recording medical devices. This is the basis of your evidence base for the court, so you should not neglect the importance of these documents.
The ideal option is when you also have a medical card on hand. Sometimes its original is kept in a medical institution and is not handed out, so try to provide the court with at least a copy.
What damages are you entitled to claim compensation for?
Federal Law No. 323 provides for the right of a citizen to compensation for harm caused to his health during the provision of medical care (clause 9, part 5, article 19). This harm can be property or moral.
Damage caused to human health or life is compensated in monetary terms.
Property damage can be of two types:
Compensation for losses incurred due to loss of ability to work. To justify these losses, it is necessary to provide the court with documents confirming that if this event had not occurred, the plaintiff could have had a certain income (income)
The costs incurred for justified additional treatment (if such treatment could not be provided to the citizen free of charge) and restoration, purchase of special equipment and medicines, confirmed by documents, are also subject to recovery.
Moral damages are recovered from the defendant regardless of his guilt in an arbitrary amount
In practice, the claims indicated by the plaintiff are reduced in accordance with accepted court practice to the extent of damage commensurate with the damage caused. The degree of guilt of the defendant, the degree of moral suffering suffered by the plaintiff, as well as the official and unofficial practice of higher judicial bodies accepted in the region are taken into account.
If you believe that a medical organization provided its services untimely or improperly, it is necessary to collect evidence of the connection between the actions/inactions of medical workers and the resulting harm. Such evidence is an expert opinion.
Many clients believe that in order to determine the prospects of a case for compensation for substandard medical services, a separate specialist with legal and medical knowledge is needed at the same time. This is not the case—a trial lawyer, an attorney, and a judge will base legal positions on the medical examiner's findings. Self-evaluation of medical documents is not permitted either from the point of view of the court or from the point of view of a professional lawyer. This is stated in paragraph 1 of Art. 79 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation.
An examination may be required twice - initially to confirm your point of view and file a claim in court, and during the trial. If the defendant questions the pre-trial examination you conducted, or points out the fact that the expert is incompetent, the court may decide to conduct a forensic examination in an organization agreed upon by the parties and appointed by the court.
Who is responsible for poor-quality services provided?
According to Article 1068 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, for harm caused to a citizen by an employee of a legal entity, this legal entity bears material and civil liability. In our case, a public or private medical institution. If the actions or inaction of medical workers include a crime under Articles 109, 118 or 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (causing death by negligence, causing serious bodily harm by negligence or negligence), then the doctor himself bears personal responsibility in the criminal case. In such cases, it is not worth filing a separate civil claim within the criminal case, because The clinic will bear financial responsibility for what they did, but the doctor will bear personal responsibility before the law.
Algorithm of actions in case of poor quality medical services
The very first step is to prepare a well-formulated and presented written claim, which should be sent, along with a list of investments and requirements, to the medical institution that provided poor quality services. Of course, in some cases the submitted claim will be ignored altogether or considered formally. But this is a mandatory stage of pre-trial settlement that has to be completed, albeit formally. No answer - let's move on to the next stage.
As part of this, it is necessary to prepare a statement of claim to the court for compensation for damage to health. At the same time, another document is being drawn up - complaints to the prosecutor’s office and the territorial branch of Roszdravnadzor. According to current legislation, a claim can be filed both at the place of registration of the plaintiff and at the location of the medical institution. Do not forget that medical services are subject to the Consumer Rights Law, therefore, when filing a claim, the plaintiff is exempt from paying state fees. For this reason, some lawyers recommend not skimping on the amount of compensation for moral damage indicated in the statement of claim. The court will still reduce it, but the more you indicate and can argue, the greater the likelihood of receiving a significant amount. Immediately attach any evidence that is not prohibited by law: examination results, photo and video materials.
Now you can start collecting evidence. As mentioned earlier, only an examination of the quality of medical care can determine violations on the part of medical workers. This is an independent type of medical examination that examines your case individually. The purpose of the study is to study the actions of the doctor and establish the presence of errors, the reasons for their commission and the cause-and-effect relationship between errors and harm caused to health.
The expert’s conclusion must necessarily contain the following information:
- Violations by physicians - incorrect actions, untimely assistance, omissions and errors;
- The fact that the patient has health damage;
- The cause-and-effect relationship between the mistakes made and the harm caused;
- The fact that medical workers have taken or failed to take the necessary measures to provide emergency care to the patient.
According to the law, an examination can be carried out before filing a claim in court. Pre-trial examinations can be carried out by a number of institutions licensed to provide such services. It is important to understand that for the court such an examination will be considered only as a written opinion of a specialist, but not as impartial evidence. It is for this reason that parties often request the appointment of a forensic examination, which is carried out only in a special expert institution. Its results are final and cannot be appealed.
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How to write a complaint against a doctor at a private medical institution
The patient must understand that in the eyes of the law there is almost no difference between a public and private clinic. In the first case, the services are free, in the second, they are paid. But both private and public doctors are obliged to comply with legal requirements.
There are slight differences in the form of complaints that can be sent to different authorities.
To the Ministry of Health
You can submit a complaint in person at an appointment at a territorial unit, by visiting the institution’s website rosminzdrav.ru, or by mail to the address: 127994, GSP-4, Moscow, Rakhmanovsky lane, 3.
When drawing up a document, follow the rules:
- In the upper right corner they list the exact name of the institution where the document is addressed, as well as their data: full name, address, contacts (e-mail, telephone).
- B, indicating the details of the doctor (clinic, hospital, etc.) for whom the appeal is being made.
- The following briefly lists the circumstances of the conflict. All facts must be indicated: dates, amounts, times, names of drugs, references to violated legal norms.
- All previous appeals to the management of the medical institution, Rospotrebnadzor, etc. must be listed. The results are indicated. Copies of requests and responses to them must be attached.
- List the requirements. This could be compensation for harm, a refund, receiving a quality service, etc.
At the end they put a signature and date. The attachments include all previous requests, as well as documentary evidence (checks, invoices, payment receipts, agreement for the provision of paid services, etc.). A list of applications is listed in the text in the final part.
To the prosecutor's office
There is no point in complaining to the Prosecutor's Office about poor quality service. Here they deal with disputes related to violation of civil rights. Therefore, when drawing up a complaint, it is necessary to be guided by the same principles as when applying to the Ministry of Health, however, it is imperative to cite those norms of civil law that were violated by a private doctor. Without this, the complaint will be left without consideration.
Attention! The review period is 30 days. If the stated facts are considered sufficient to initiate an inspection, it will be carried out. The applicant may be called to participate additionally in the proceedings. The results of the inspection must be reported in writing.
To court
A statement of claim can be drawn up in different ways. The exact form depends on what exactly the plaintiff wants to receive in the end. You can appeal to the norms of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, and others. However, any claim must contain complete information about the case:
- Name of the court, personal information of the plaintiff and defendant (institution, doctor, clinic, etc.).
- The essence of the violation. Evidence is provided, as well as references to violated rules of law.
- Claim.
Advice! A lawyer will help you correctly draw up a statement of claim, choose jurisdiction, formulate demands, and refer to violated rules of law. The basic rules for drawing up claims of this kind are set out in Article 131 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation.
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Attempt at pre-trial settlement
Before initiating legal proceedings, it is necessary to try to resolve the dispute out of court. To do this, a claim for compensation for damage is drawn up and sent to the location of the organization by registered mail with a list of the contents. We wrote in detail about pre-trial claims in this material.
It is important to show your opponent the seriousness of your intentions and the prospect of litigation. Often such disputes end with the conclusion of an agreement on the payment of compensation even before the trial.
If you have not received proposals to resolve the conflict within the period specified in the pre-trial claim, you must go to court. Typically, organizations prefer not to refuse complaints, but simply ignore them. Failure to respond in writing or to comply with a requirement is regarded as a refusal to comply.
