Learn about medical malpractice and compensation in Turkey. Understand your rights, the legal process, and how to seek justice if you’ve been affected.
Medical errors can occur when healthcare professionals or institutions fail to meet their obligations, leading to both physical and psychological harm to patients. In such situations, malpractice lawsuits serve as a means to safeguard the rights of those affected and to seek justice. Our law firm is committed to providing expert guidance throughout this process, ensuring that compensation claims are evaluated correctly and that legal proceedings are managed effectively.
What Is Malpractice?
A malpractice lawsuit is initiated to compensate patients for the damages they have suffered due to a healthcare provider’s unauthorized actions, ignorance, or negligence. This legal action can result in various outcomes, such as compensating the patient for all or part of the damages, waiving hospital bills, penalizing the responsible party, or arranging for the patient’s re-treatment.
The parties against whom malpractice lawsuits can be filed differ between the private and public sectors. In the private sector, lawsuits can be filed against private healthcare institutions or independent doctors. However, in the public sector, these lawsuits cannot be filed directly against the doctor. Instead, they are filed against the Ministry of Health or the relevant administrative body, which may then seek recourse against the individual doctor or healthcare provider.
Our Approach
At CKAY Law Firm, our dedicated team of English-speaking lawyers diligently manages every aspect of your malpractice lawsuit. From filing the case and gathering evidence to evaluating expert reports and conducting negotiations, we strive to defend our clients’ rights effectively. We adopt a strategic approach to ensure that you receive everything you are entitled to.
Causes of Malpractice
Malpractice occurs when a healthcare professional endangers a patient’s life through actions that are contrary to medical standards, often due to ignorance, inexperience, negligence, or intentional misconduct. Common situations leading to malpractice include:
- Misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis of a disease,
- Choosing an inappropriate treatment method,
- Incorrect application of a treatment,
- Performing surgery on the wrong body part or organ,
- Prescribing incorrect medication or dosage,
- Improper adjustment of anesthesia levels,
- Inadequate communication about the patient’s condition,
- Misuse of medical equipment,
- Use of defective or faulty equipment,
- Insufficient training of healthcare professionals.
Conditions For Compensation in Malpractice Cases
Various damages can arise in malpractice cases due to physicians’ ignorance, incompetence, and negligence. The Turkish Legal System grants patients the right to seek financial or emotional compensation under certain conditions:
- The physician must have engaged in unlawful behavior.
- There must be damage resulting from this unlawful behavior.
- A direct causal link must exist between the behavior and the damage.
Patients are entitled to claim material or non-material compensation when these conditions are met.
Pecuniary Compensation in Malpractice Cases
In malpractice lawsuits, the plaintiff — the patient — is responsible for proving and quantifying the damage. If the exact amount of damage cannot be determined, the judge will assess and award compensation according to the law.
Patients who suffer financial losses due to a doctor’s mistake have the right to claim pecuniary compensation. Factors considered in such cases include medical expenses, loss of income, and future healthcare costs. At CKAY Law Firm, we thoroughly handle the legal processes necessary to identify our clients’ financial losses and to secure the compensation they deserve. Our primary goal is to resolve our clients’ grievances promptly and effectively.
Non-Material Compensation in Malpractice Cases
A doctor’s error can lead to not only financial losses but also emotional distress, including pain, suffering, psychological trauma, and a decline in quality of life. In these instances, patients can seek non-material compensation to address the emotional harm they’ve endured. CKAY Law Firm provides essential legal support to help clients obtain compensation for their emotional damages, following the process with care and determination. We are committed to helping our clients receive the amount of non-material compensation they rightfully deserve.
Statute of Limitations in Malpractice Litigation
The statute of limitations for malpractice lawsuits varies between the public and private sectors. For lawsuits filed against public hospitals, according to Article 13 of the Administrative Jurisdiction Law, the time limit is one year from the date the unlawful act was discovered, and in any case, no more than five years from the date the act occurred. In cases involving death, the statute of limitations begins on the date of death.
For malpractice lawsuits against private sector entities or independent doctors, the patient-physician relationship is considered a proxy relationship, and the statute of limitations is determined by the Turkish Code of Obligations. Under Article 147/5, the time limit is five years.
In procedures like aesthetic surgery, where a work contract exists between the patient and the physician, the statute of limitations is also five years.
In cases involving unauthorized work, the statute of limitations extends to ten years, and for gross negligence — regardless of the patient-physician relationship — it increases to twenty years.
Understanding these time constraints, CKAY Law Firm carefully manages all legal processes to defend our client’s rights in a timely and effective manner.
Conclusion
We are here to protect your rights and to seek justice in malpractice cases. With our experienced English-speaking legal team, we stand by your side at every stage, taking the necessary steps to secure all your material and non-material rights. Reach out to us for legal support and to gain a professional perspective on your case; together, we’ll defend your rights.
