Criminal liability of the doctor for putting the patient at risk

The good protected provisions of Articles 155 k.k. and 160 § 1-3 k.k. are life and human health. The legal relation between a doctor and a patient is typical of criminal liability the guarantor as an entity obliged to act against the effect. The basic legal work of the guarantor is, referring to the content of Article 9(2) of the Code, the conduct of ‘the precautions required under the circumstances in question;‘.

The consequence of the present offence (160 § 2 and 3 of the Criminal Code) is not only to origin a situation where the patient is not in a position of direct danger to life or health, but besides to keep (not to reverse, not to reduce) the already existing level of this danger at a time erstwhile the work to act as a physician-guarantor has been fulfilled. Moreover, the crime is committed at the time of exposure, Even though the individual exposed has suffered no harm (SN judgement of 5 April 2013 IV KK 43/13).

The doctor's criminal liability at the level of Article 160k does not gotta trust on him to make a diagnostic or medical error. They can be different. any another action taken or abandoned by him, endangering a individual to a direct hazard of failure of life or serious injury (SN judgement of 3 September 2013 WK 14/13).

The legal conduct (action, omission) of the physician-guarantor shall not be contrary to the work to act if it does not affect the state of danger to the life or wellness of a peculiar person, is not causal to the failure of life or serious wellness harm referred to in Article 160(1) k.k. This applies in peculiar to situations where the origin of vulnerability to these goods is other than the anticipation of a doctor’s intervention a certain behaviour.

Examples of jurisprudence practice

The doctor on work in the trauma-ortopedic surgery ward is guarantor liable for the wellness of patients. In a situation where he misdiagnosed the patient’s wellness and did not carry out a description of chest X-rays by a radiologist specialist, and neglected to execute a chest CT, represents a direct vulnerability to the hazard of death. The consequence of the above, as a consequence of no surgical intervention, was the death of a patient due to chest injuries with a burst of the aortic wall and subsequent haemorrhage to the left pleural cavity resulting in the failure of crucial amounts of blood, i.e. a crime in Article 160 §3 of the Code of Art. 160 §2 of the Code of Art.

To be determined before surgery if there is simply a hazard of thrombotic embolism They're requiring the surgeon's anticoagulation standards.. Infringement of this work would mean a manifest failure to exercise the caution required under the circumstances. On the suspect as a doctor operator you must execute certain diagnostic activities before you undergo surgery. Your doctor must not halt with an interview with you about your erstwhile illness and surgery. also if you guarantee that you are and are healthy (similar to the ultimate Court judgement of 8 February 2017) III KK 226/16).

A doctor, a associate of a rescue team, shall be required to guarantee that the immediate danger of the effects referred to in Article 160(1) is prevented. These obligations shall be updated at the time of the occurrence of danger, and shall be objectively identifiable ex ante. These include Investigations, allowing a doctor to find whether there is simply a hazard to the patient's life or wellness and to take appropriate therapeutic measures to reduce that risk, if objectively possible (the ultimate Court order of 6 October 2016). V KK 94/16).

Preparation phase end of pregnancy procedure by cesarean cut, from which minute the conceived kid is protected by the provision of Article 160 k.k. due to the man, are not only method activities but occurring together: medical indications for the termination of pregnancy by an imperial cutting procedure, the improvement readiness of the kid to function independently outside the mother's body, and the mother's readiness to undergo specified treatment (judgment of the Court of Appeal in Wrocław of 15 October 2008). II AKa 223/08).

A doctor who has taken care of a patient erstwhile he has already been in a state of immediate danger of failure of life cannot be held liable for criminal liability under Article 160(2) or (3) of the Code in the event of desired alternate behaviour, i.e. medical treatment (operation) did not make a real anticipation even to reduce this hazard to the patient's life Council Regulation (EC) No 761/2006 of 21 May 2006 on the protection of individuals with respect to the processing of individual data and on the free movement of specified data and on the free movement of specified data and on the free movement of specified data and on the free movement of specified data and on the free movement of specified data and on the free movement of specified data and on the free movement of specified data and on the free movement of specified data and on the free movement of specified data and on the free movement of specified data and on the free movement of specified data and on the free movement of specified data and on the free movement of specified data and on the free movement of specified data and on the free movement of specified data and on the free movement of specified data and on the free movement of specified data and on the free movement of specified data and on the free movement of specified data and on the free movement of specified data and on the free movement of specified data and on the free movement of specified data and the free movement of specified data and the free movement of specified data shall be communicated to the Union. II KK 236/14).

Situations of admission to infirmary due to injuries as a consequence of participation in the communication accident, erstwhile the on-call doctor in the orthopedic ward despite having laboratory tests showing crucial abnormalities and indicating the presence of a origin of bleeding in the patient’s body while worsening, does not order abdominal and another imaging tests, depreciating or limiting his medical chances, including the saving of life, criminal offences are allowed to origin direct danger of failure of life or serious injury (SN judgement of 21 August 2012). IV KK 42/12).

The condition of work of the doctor referred to in Article 160 §3 of the Code has been met if it is established that the doctor has not informed the patient about the detection of a dangerous organism in his blood, fulfilling the defendant's work to comply with the correct diagnostic and medical procedures and to inform the patients who stay under his care of the results of the ongoing investigation and therapeutic procedures, would prevent a real and crucial increase in the patient's vulnerability to a direct hazard of failure of life (judgment of 19 August 2008 WA 29/08).

When the OR doctors were aware that you should be operated immediately, and multiple monites for surgical consultation remained unresponsive, they should take another decisive steps to undergo surgery. The absence of an immediate surgical consultation despite repeated orders from SOR physicians should consequence in prompt notification of the superiors (judgment of 26 March 2007 WA 17/07).

In medical diagnostics, it is not possible to neglect to examine tyre symptoms in case of headaches associated with vomiting. Test of tyre symptoms belongs to the basic medical examination, and so 1 which he is obliged to carry out any doctor examining the patient, and in peculiar if headaches and vomiting are detected. Tyre investigating is simply a very simple procedure that can be performed in any doctor’s office. Their aim is to exclude subarachnoid hemorrhage resulting from an aneurysm rupture (judgment of 1 April 2008). IV KK 381/07).

On the definition of an vulnerability offence: read here

Concerning the responsibilities of a doctor (an ambulance) in life-threatening conditions: read here