Peculiarities of the institute of professional liability insurance of medical workers in some EU countries: in search of an optimal legal model for Ukraine

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Public health, as one of the constituent elements of national security, is primarily determined by the protection of the population from the spread of epidemics on the territory of a certain state. It seems that its state can also be evidenced by the extent to which the population is protected from illegal and unscrupulous actions or inaction of medical workers. The latter, while performing their professional duties to provide medical care, may provide substandard medical services or even harm a patient’s health or take his or her life, which may entail their civil and/or criminal liability. Even if a medical worker is held criminally liable, he or the medical institution of which he is an employee is still obliged to compensate material damage to the patient for the harm to his health. Analysis of judicial practice both in civil and criminal cases shows that today it is unlikely to obtain such compensation from a medical worker even in court. In order to change this situation, it is necessary to legislate the institute of professional liability of medical workers. In June 2024 in the first reading the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted as a basis the Draft Law of Ukraine on self-government in the field of health care dated 25.12.2023 (reg. No. 10372), which provides for the establishment of the institute of civil liability insurance for representatives of medical and pharmaceutical professions. That is why today the search for the optimal legal model of such an institute is of great importance. In this case, the legislation of individual EU countries (the Republic of Lithuania, the Republic of Latvia and the Federal Republic of Germany) regulating the institute of professional liability insurance for medical professionals can be taken as a basis. Therefore, in this article on the basis of comparison of individual provisions of these laws will be realized the identification of all the disadvantages and advantages of this institute.