SERVICE FAULT OF HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATION, PUBLIC PHYSICIANS, AND TRIALS REGARDING VIOLENCE IN HEALTHCARE
Service Fault and Full Remedy (Compensation) Actions in Public Hospitals When healthcare services are provided in a public hospital (state or university hospital), the dispute is subject to administrative law principles rather than private law (consumer/obligations law) rules. A patient suffering harm due to inadequate hospital infrastructure, equipment malfunctions, a lack of on-duty physicians, or unhygienic conditions gives rise to the administration’s liability for “Service Fault.” In such cases, the direct respondent to the lawsuit is the relevant ministry or hospital administration. Through Full Remedy Actions filed before Administrative Courts, the patient’s treatment expenses, losses due to loss of labor force (pecuniary compensation), and non-pecuniary compensation equivalent to the deep grief experienced are claimed from the state budget. In order for recourse to be exercised against public physicians, the presence of the personnel’s “gross negligence” is mandatory.
Corporate Responsibility and the Consumer Dimension in Private Healthcare Institutions Healthcare services carried out in private hospitals and medical centers directly bear the character of a “Contract for Work” or “Service Contract.” Private hospitals are directly liable for the wrongful acts of the physicians they employ (in the capacity of the employer) based on the principles of strict liability. In these relationships where the patient is in the position of a commercial consumer, disputes between the quality of service provided by the hospital management, the billed fees, and the medical outcome achieved are subjected to the radical scrutiny of Consumer Courts and Civil Courts of First Instance.
Violence Against Healthcare Professionals and Aggressive Intervention in Criminal Law The most tragic dimension of health law in recent years has been the physical and verbal violence incidents directed at healthcare professionals (physicians, nurses, technicians) in hospital emergency rooms or polyclinics. Through strict regulations made in the Turkish Penal Code and relevant special laws to ensure the uninterrupted provision of healthcare services, the penalties for crimes committed against healthcare personnel during the performance of their duties (intentional injury, insult, threat) have been increased, detention measures have been facilitated, and these crimes have been removed from the scope of conciliation.
Rational Defense and Strategic Practice in Health Law The technical and rational legal process conducted for the establishment of justice in health disputes comprises the following stages:
- Against malpractice allegations, compiling the patient file, epicrises, and operation notes completely, and grounding the defense on scientific foundations in the light of the universal guidelines of medical science;
- In the liability of the administration or private hospital, accurately determining the patient’s damages (or the loss of support damages of those left behind in the event of death) through actuarial expert evaluations for pecuniary compensation calculations;
- In incidents of violence experienced by healthcare professionals, filing effective criminal complaints before Chief Public Prosecutors’ Offices to ensure the arrest of perpetrators and the protection of professional honor.
This defense conducted in health law is the art of upholding that fair and rational balance—through judicial power—between the physician struggling within those risky and sacred boundaries of science and the rights of the patient wishing to protect their bodily integrity and right to life.
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