The Cornerstone of Health Law: Patient Rights and Responsibilities

What is Medical Malpractice

"Medical Malpractice" is a term used to describe situations where a healthcare professional provides medical treatment or care that deviates from medical standards, shows negligence, or results in errors. Medical malpractice can encompass various situations such as medical errors, misdiagnosis, treatment mistakes, surgical errors, medication errors, and more. These errors can lead to harm to patients and have serious consequences. Medical malpractice cases can result in legal sanctions or compensation lawsuits, and they involve issues of a physician's responsibility and accountability.

In recent times, healthcare professionals' challenges have been highlighted by the media like never before. While these issues were not new, they have become impossible to ignore, leading the media to closely monitor and report on them. As a healthcare law specialist, working closely with the Medical Malpractice Association, which specializes in health law and medical error, we aimed to help physicians understand their rights and responsibilities, prevent them from feeling helpless during legal processes, and view the law as a protective shield rather than a threat. In this context, we conducted preventive activities for physicians and provided medico-legal support to those facing or considering malpractice lawsuits, demonstrating that they are not alone in their struggles.

Now, I will hand over the floor to Attorney Funda Şahin, the General Secretary of the Medical Malpractice Association:

The right to healthcare, defined in many fields, refers to an individual's ability to seek protection and treatment for their health from the state and, subsequently, from all units of society, utilizing all the opportunities provided by the state and society to continuously improve and maintain their health. One of the most important components of the fundamental rights and freedoms, which we can call the precursor of the right to life, is undoubtedly the right to health and the right to a healthy life. Being healthy, continuously improving one's health to reach a state of complete well-being, and leading a balanced and peaceful life free from adverse health conditions are the most natural and fundamental rights of individuals. However, due to some behaviors and factors that individuals knowingly or unknowingly engage in, they may lose their health or their state of complete well-being.

For these reasons, the rights that individuals possess when receiving healthcare, which complements the right to a healthy life, are called patient rights. Patient rights encompass all the rights that an individual has as a "patient" in their relationship with those who assist and provide healthcare services, in their journey to regain their lost health, to receive quality healthcare services at any healthcare institution when the state of complete well-being is compromised, and to benefit from all the services and needs required to continue living in such a state. As can be seen, patient rights not only involve the steps to be taken to access quality healthcare but also carry with them the rights of physicians, which constitute the other side of the coin.

Today, the patient and the physician, constantly conflicting and becoming fatigued, are actually an inseparable duo. Thus, to fully understand and implement these rights and, of course, the corresponding responsibilities, education has become an inevitable step.

As the MEDICAL MALPRACTICE ASSOCIATION and the HIGH HEALTH LAW ASSOCIATION, we invite you to join us on this journey to discuss and, when necessary, improve all rights and responsibilities.

Best regards,

Attorney Funda ŞAHİN

General Secretary of the Medical Malpractice Association