Medical Error as a Source of Iatrogenic Harm: Issues of Causality and Legal Liability

The paper is devoted to the legal aspects of medical errors arising in medical activity. The purpose of the work is to conduct a legal analysis of a medical error and the resulting iatrogenic harm, as well as to formulate the author’s definitions of the concepts under study, such as: medical error, iatrogenic harm, tort liabilities in the medical field.
The author conducts the legal analysis of the stated problems based on the existing regulatory legal acts in this area, as well as materials of judicial practice. Separately, within the framework of the paper, an illustrative analysis of a specific court case is given, the judicial representative for which was the author of this scientific study and within which a number of problematic issues that courts face when considering this category of cases were expressed. The problematic aspects identified by the author following the example of the court case represent the quintessence of the existing approach of judicial practice within the whole set of cases arising from harm to human life and health as a result of iatrogenies.
In conclusion, the author concludes that the so-called medical cases require a special approach when considered and resolved by the court, taking into account the circumstances indicated in the content of the work cited. The more effective consideration and the adoption of objective, fair judicial decisions is possible through the implementation of legislative measures. Among them are the introduction of a special «medical» corpus delicti in the norms of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and a special tort in the field of harm to human life and health through iatrogeny in the norms of Part II of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

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