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What is Malpractice?
We invite you to read this article titled “What is Malpractice?” written by the MGC Legal team.
Malpractice in Turkey
Malpractice is a term used to mean “medical error“, “medical malpractice“, or “medical negligence“.
Medical practice errors can lead to tragic results, and they can also lead to long-term or permanent injury, chronic pain, and death from misdiagnosis or treatment. Medical practice errors can be caused by doctors, health technicians, medical professionals, nurses, or health institutions.
Various grievances may occur due to misdiagnosis, accidents during patient transfer, surgical errors, treatment errors, post-treatment misapplication, and health management defects.,
Related Article: Employing a Foreign Medical Doctor in Turkey.
One or more of these situations may be the subject of malpractice lawsuits. So, what is malpractice, and why does it happen? What does a malpractice lawyer do? How to file a malpractice compensation case? Here are the answers…
What Causes Malpractice?
Malpractice is a general term used to mean that a healthcare professional, such as a doctor, cannot provide the expected healthcare service due to ignorance, negligence, or criminal intent. This can have various consequences. Some of the conditions that lead to malpractice are:
- Death by doctor negligence,
- Birth injuries,
- Misdiagnosis in heart attack,
- Disease progression due to careless treatment and misdiagnosis,
- Surgical errors, such as forgetting surgical materials in the body,
- Important health problems that arise as a result of ignoring allergies,
- Damages caused by drugs in the body due to incorrect prescription,
- Other medical damages and injuries,
- Surgery to the wrong person & surgery on the wrong body part,
Malpractice is a type of mistake or omission by a doctor or healthcare professional.
However, this is not the norm. In other words, most doctors and health professionals are competent individuals in their field. Therefore, malpractice cases are rare events. However, when this situation occurs, the aggrieved party or the victim’s relatives may file a malpractice lawsuit.
What is a Malpractice Litigation?
A malpractice lawsuit is the type of lawsuit filed by the aggrieved party due to a doctor’s error, misdiagnosis, or negligence of the healthcare professional, as a result of this lawsuit, results such as compensation, compensatory fees, cancellation of hospital bills, new treatment opportunities, and punishment of the wrong party can occur.
The purpose of the malpractice lawsuit is to partially or completely relieve the victim who suffered due to misdiagnosis, medical malpractice, and negligence.
How Long is The Statute of Limitations For Malpractice Cases?
The statute of limitations in malpractice cases varies according to some situations. Some of the statutes of limitations for malpractice lawsuits are as follows:
- Material and moral compensation can be claimed with malpractice lawsuits against public hospitals. For this, one year from the date of the health professional error or grievance; in any case, a compensation claim must be made within five years from the date of the incident.
- If the compensation claim is rejected, a full remedy action must be filed for malpractice within 60 days from the day of notification of this action.
- If the administration does not respond to the request within 30 days, the request is deemed rejected when this period expires.
- If the request is rejected, a full remedy action can be filed within 60 days due to the doctor’s error.
- The statute of limitations in malpractice compensation cases within the scope of negligent injury is eight years.
- The statute of limitations for malpractice compensation cases within the scope of the crime of negligent death is 15 years.
- In malpractice lawsuits based on tort, it is two years from the date the victim learned of the damage and the liability for compensation. In any case, it is ten years from the date of the act.
- If the compensation claim is made for an activity within the framework of the criminal laws, the statute of limitations on criminal proceedings shall apply.
- The statute of limitations is five years in compensation cases filed in consumer courts against private hospitals or private doctors.
- The statute of limitations is ten years in malpractice lawsuits filed due to medical intervention without authorization from the patient.
On the other hand, the statute of limitations for criminal proceedings cannot be applied in compensation cases filed due to a doctor’s error arising in violation of the contract.
What Does a Malpractice Lawyer Do?
Malpractice is a term used to mean that a person is victimized due to unlawful procedures in medical interventions performed by doctors or other health personnel. Malpractice cases are one of the cases handled within the scope of the health law. Malpractice lawyer; produces legal solutions for victims, patients’ relatives, doctors, and healthcare professionals.
A malpractice lawyer, who provides health law consultancy services, basically provides the following support:
- Opening and following up malpractice lawsuits or malpractice compensation lawsuits against doctors, health workers, or health institutions and organizations in matters falling within the field of malpractice, such as death by doctor’s negligence, injury as a result of negligence, loss of limb as a result of wrong treatment, disability,
- Protecting the legal rights of doctors, healthcare workers, patients, and their relatives,
- Initiating and following the legal process for malpractice cases,
- Following up on the cases regarding the disputes arising due to medicine and drug law,
- Follow-up of criminal, administrative, professional, and compensation cases against doctors.
MGC Legal provides professional support for the protection of the rights of patients and healthcare professionals with its expert lawyer staff in healthcare law.
You can get support from our experienced malpractice lawyers on issues such as how to open a malpractice lawsuit. Our lawyers also provide services within the health law framework in processes such as collecting evidence subject to malpractice at the appropriate time and in appropriate procedures, objections to supplementary evidence, appeals and appeals, and malpractice compensation proceedings.
What is Malpractice Compensation Litigation?
In the case of malpractice, it is checked whether the doctor complies with medical standards in their medical intervention. Failure to implement medical intervention standards is evaluated differently. Medical intervention standards are not applied in cases such as diagnostic errors, wrong, incomplete, or faulty treatment, and lack of necessary care after medical intervention.
In this case, the right to file a malpractice compensation case for the compensation of the damage to the victimized patient or patient relatives arises. To determine whether the medical standards are complied with before the malpractice claim, the place and time of the medical procedure and whether the doctor or the medical team involved in the medical intervention have the opportunity to apply the standards are considered.
How to File a Malpractice Compensation Case?
The courts where malpractice compensation cases will be heard vary according to the status of the health institution where the intervention causing the malpractice is made.
The consumer court is the competent court in malpractice cases to be filed against private hospitals operated by private doctors, companies, ordinary partnerships, or real persons. The competent court is the administrative court in malpractice cases against public hospitals and health institutions. In case of malpractice, if the doctor wishes to sue the insurance company, the competent court is the commercial court of the first instance. A malpractice lawsuit is opened in the competent courts located at the defendant’s residence on the date of the lawsuit.
On the other hand, a lawsuit cannot be filed directly against doctors who are civil servants as per the Constitution. For this reason, malpractice lawsuits are to be filed against physicians working in public health institutions, and organizations are filed directly against the relevant public health institution.
MGC Legal Provides Professional Support for Malpractice Cases in Turkey
Malpractice lawyers and legal staff within MGC Legal provide professional support to victims of medical errors in malpractice cases. If you or someone close to you has suffered a medical error, if you have been a victim due to a misdiagnosis, seek support from the malpractice lawyers of MGC Legal immediately.
Our malpractice lawyer plans the actions to be taken by giving the necessary information about what can be done in this process. Medical malpractice lawsuits may not eliminate the victimization; however, it provides to take legal action against those who caused it to compensate for the consequences of the doctor’s mistake.
