Проблемні питання цивільно-правової відповідальності медичних працівників в Україні

Abstract

The article is devoted to the coverage of one of the most pressing problems of civil law, which is bringing to civil liability of medical workers in cases where they are obliged to compensate for material and moral damage caused to patients by non-performance or improper performance of their professional duties. The article analyzes the types of civil liability and briefly describes the peculiarities of bringing medical workers to them. The cases of lawsuits considered in civil proceedings, in which the defendant was a medical institution or a medical worker, published in the Unified State Register of Court Decisions for the period from January 01, 2021 to December 25, 2022, were studied. It is proved that in practice it is almost impossible for a patient to bring a healthcare professional to civil liability in civil proceedings. Thus, out of 17 cases published in the USRCD during the period from January 01, 2021 to December 25, 2022, which dealt with bringing doctors or other healthcare workers to civil liability, only in 1 case the court fully satisfied the plaintiff's claims, in 2 more - partially, while in the remaining 15 cases the court dismissed the plaintiff's claims in full. Such a small number of satisfied claims of plaintiffs (patients) is due to the fact that in civil proceedings the proof of the vast majority of the circumstances of the case is entrusted to the plaintiff. Since this information requires special knowledge in the field of medicine, the plaintiff himself needs to initiate the quality control of the provided medical care and request the relevant expertise, which creates significant difficulties in practice. The analysis of court decisions made it possible to identify the grounds for contractual civil liability for a medical institution or a doctor, as well as cases in which the court satisfied the plaintiff's claims or refused to do so. The cases of bringing a medical professional to tort liability were also considered and the reasons for the fact that in practice it is quite difficult for plaintiffs to prove the tort in the conduct of a medical professional were identified. It is substantiated that for proper protection of the patient's rights in practice in civil proceedings it is advisable: a) to supplement the current Civil Code of Ukraine with provisions that would regulate the contract for the provision of medical services; b) to create a separate body in the system of state bodies, which should be subordinate to the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, which would control the quality of medical care in cases of harm to the patient's health.