The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation from article 124 is aware of the criminal liability for failure to provide medical care. Legislators have assigned this duty to people who, on duty, help citizens get out of burning apartments or those who feel unwell on the street. Yes, you never know the difficult life situations that invaded a personās life suddenly, and only outside interference can save. Employees of special services for their sluggishness or deliberate failure to provide medical assistance can attract the interest of law enforcement agencies.
Legislative regulation
In the Russian Federation, there is a main law on which they rely on the development of new standards, adjust old acts - this is the Constitution. The collection of provisions that are different in direction gives a guarantee to the citizens of the Russian Federation and people living in the territory of the state - providing urgent medical services when the need arises, it is also emphasized that the refusal of medical care in our country is unacceptable. State and municipal health care institutions receive free admission for all those in need. They pay for such services, insurance premiums, the state budget, but also the population of the country fills it.
What is urgent help?
Failure to provide medical care is a very delicate matter. Before accusing a person of inaction in the performance of their duties, the competent authorities thoroughly understand: how much the specialist was able and sufficient to provide full-fledged services. Medical assistance is:
- primary - when doctors carry out prevention, diagnosis, rehabilitation, monitor pregnant women, take patients for examinations, develop treatment regimens;
- urgent - they call cars with medical personnel specially equipped with technical equipment, they arrive at the address or at the place of accidents or emergencies where people were injured;
- specialized - specialists conduct clinical examinations using special methods, special therapy using medical technologies;
- social - examination is prescribed for patients with serious diseases that pose a threat of infection to people in contact with them, it can be open and closed tuberculosis, various degrees of hepatitis, HIV.
In each of the cases, the doctor takes residents to the clinic when they go there as usual. On the one hand, he treats them, relapse will occur without help, but these measures do not belong to urgent measures. Although, among legislators, the question was raised of toughening Article 124 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for failure to provide medical care. Information appears in the media about the deaths of people in polyclinics, who came to the doctor but were not accepted or were neglected and led to death.
What does the law require from specialists?
Urgent provision of medical services is necessary for citizens in the event of:
- heart attack
- poisoning;
- injuries during an accident;
- burns caused by domestic and industrial fires;
- man-made disasters.
Each situation requires emergency intervention by a doctor, affected hospitals should be taken by all closely located hospitals, regardless of the status of the department, their affiliation with the property of the municipality or private ownership. In this case, for failure to provide medical care, the Criminal Code provides for a different level of punishment.
What kind of punishment is provided?
Laws under the influence of time are constantly being adjusted. The latest edition of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, article 124, states that individuals are responsible for the failure to provide medical care and inappropriate attitude to their direct duties. The sanctions emphasized that their appointment is due to the doctorās refusal to help the victims, which may result in the formation of a moderate to severe health hazard. For this, the law provides for the punishment:
- material - in the amount of a three-month salary from the perpetrator's income or 40,000 rubles.
- with conviction for attraction for compulsory work for 360 hours;
- forced to carry out correctional labor for a year;
- 4 months imprisonment.
The second part of the article is devoted to the careless actions of a physician, because of which the victim died or survived with serious complications. In determining the grave consequences of the guilty party, isolation from society for 4 years and a ban on medical practice for 3 years await. The court usually scrupulously deals with the evidence and does not accept unfounded charges. The judge considers whether there was indeed a refusal of medical care, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation indicates these cases, analyzes the circumstances of the incident.
Who is recognized as the victim?
The Constitution of the Russian Federation guarantees the protection of citizens from the arbitrariness of persons whose professional actions make their life, well-being, and health dependent. People may be affected by poor medical care:
- after contacting the clinic, regardless of the form of management (private or state);
- during planned and unscheduled preventive and diagnostic measures;
- with diseases of a psychiatric nature, which were forcibly treated using violent methods;
- if they needed surgical intervention;
- pregnant women and women in childbirth.
The legislator in the acts does not focus on the severity of the disease until the patient goes to the hospital or diagnosis. His goal was to prevent the threat of deterioration in health due to the failure to provide medical care to the patient.
Qualification Criteria
Investigators assemble a group of medical specialists to analyze the stages of the actions of doctors in each death and each patientās complaint. In what cases can refusal of medical care be recognized as valid? Article of the Criminal Code clarifies the following circumstances:
- the doctor was under suspicion and had previously been noticed in such violations;
- there is evidence of actual inaction when the patient needed emergency medical intervention;
- the patientās health deteriorated sharply, negative consequences were discovered that occurred due to the fault of the hospitalās specialists;
- the physician did not provide a valid excuse for refusing patient care.
In determining the guilt, the investigation will have to prove that the deterioration of health or death occurred due to the unprofessional behavior of medical personnel.
How is the investigation conducted?
Failure to provide medical care under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides serious consequences for the doctor. Disqualification for many years puts an end to his future career. Therefore, a thorough investigation is being conducted, the interrogator is searching for answers to many questions. Were or not methods used:
- application of therapeutic measures;
- prevent the development of a serious condition;
- pain relief
- to improve health, to save a life.
If the doctor has not taken any medical methods for healing or has completed the treatment late, unpleasant legal consequences await him.
What is considered a default?
In the clinic, people come with physical discomfort, acute pain. They have the hope that only in this institution they will get rid of the disease, injuries. If a doctor acts as follows, he commits a crime under the law:
- refuses to be examined on an outpatient basis and placed in a hospital;
- in the registry they do not call the patient therapists, surgeons, if he himself can not move around the floors and stand in line;
- doctors do not carry out urgent resuscitation measures to people who have lost consciousness in a clinic or on the street;
- doctors are in no hurry to save the victims at the scene of an accident or other emergency situations;
- medicines were available but not used for a specific case, why the patient died, fell into a coma, a stroke occurred (any exacerbation or worsening of the general condition).
The application of article 124 of a criminal nature is possible only for medical professionals. The provision clearly indicates when and in what cases it is considered a violation and lack of medical care. Drug addicts do not belong to this category when they call an ambulance and require the urgent delivery of drugs. In this situation, the doctor can take measures if they are:
- ease the fate of permitted methods to reduce breaking;
- put a dropper;
- provide pain medication;
- transport to the hospital.
When is failure justified?
Refusing to transfer drugs even with a fatal outcome is not considered a crime. A medical professional will not be charged under the circumstances:
- there are reasons that it is impossible to provide assistance in the outbreak, there was a collapse, the building structures were destroyed;
- third parties prevented assistance;
- harmed the health of the doctor;
- there were no necessary medications or a vehicle to transport the patient to the hospital;
- the doctor did not have sufficient competence, but performed all feasible medical measures.
When a medical professional makes every effort to help the victim, he cannot be accused of criminal acts.
The nuances of the Criminal Code
Medical activity cannot be accompanied only by positive results. Each even a very successful and talented specialist has his own negative list of deaths. Article 124 warns: its provisions condemn the absolute inaction of doctors, the refusal to accept a patient with negative consequences. For doctors, there are other punitive articles in this legal industry - No. 111, 112, 115. According to them, specialists are liable in case of deliberate failure to provide treatment with the knowledge that after this there will be a fatal outcome.