ЛЕКАРСКА ГРЕШКА – ГРАЂАНСКО-ПРАВНИ АСПЕКТ
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE: Civil Aspect

Summary/Abstract: Civil liability for medical malpractice is based on the doctor’s omission or failure to act in compliance with the medical standard of care, which is commonly called a doctor’s mistake in medical treatment. The doctor’s liability may be invoked on different legal grounds (such as the contract on medical treatment, the commission of an illegal act and the unauthorized activity) but they are all based on determining culpability. The actual requirement for establishing the liability of doctors and health institutions is a culpable breach of professional duty the doctors owe to their patients. These violations may be divided into two groups: the breach of due care in the course of a patient’s medical treatment and the act of providing medical treatment without a patient’s informed consent. The mistakes in medial treatment (malpractice) are also known as classical or professional mistakes; the mistakes resulting from an omission to provide relevant information (to warn or inform the patient) are called the mistakes on the borderline of medical treatment. A professional mistake is reflected not only in the fatal outcome of the medical treatment but also in the the unsuccessful treatment caused by the failure to properly observe the professional standards of care and the rules of professional conduct. The doctor may be held liable not only if he/she disregards the rules of professional conduct but also if he/she does not obtain the patient’s consent for a medical intervention or if he/she does not inform the patient about the substance, the purpose and the goals of the planned medical treatment. Perceived in a broader sense, medical malpractice need not necessarily imply a violation of the rules of professional conduct (perceived in a narrow sense) but it may obviously imply a violation of the patient’s broader rights as well as a more general breach of the rules of due professional conduct.

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