Legal Classification of Defects in Medical Care

The paper studies the legal nature of defects in medical care and defines criteria for their legal classification. A retrospective analysis of the development of the institution of legal responsibility for improper medical treatment is carried out. The concept of a defect in medical care and related categories, their natural ontological characteristics and classifying legal features are investigated, doctrinal approaches to the legal assessment of defects in medical care are considered. It is noted that, despite the noticeable evolution that the question of the responsibility of doctors has undergone in the history of law, there is still no single approach to understanding the legal nature of defects in medical care in jurisprudence. In modern Russian legislation, as in the criminal laws of most foreign countries, there are no special standards for such defects classification. At the same time, in the interests of optimal legal regulation of relations in the field of medicine, today it is the legal definition and systematization of basic concepts and criteria for the legal classification of various medical incidents that matters and not the introduction into the law of special articles establishing criminal liability for improper provision of medical care. Thus, by combining all adverse events in medical practice under the general term "medical incidents", one can use the concept of "medical care defect" to distinguish incidents caused by inappropriate provision of medical services. The author proposes his own classification of defects in medical care dividing them into medical torts (offenses) and medical incidents (accidents and medical errors) based on the nature of the attitude of the subject of medical activity to their professional duties. A conceptual approach to the legal classification of medical care defects has been formulated.