Title Physician liability - comparison between the Croatian Criminal Code and criminal code in Slovenia
Title (croatian) Liječnička odgovornost - usporedba Kaznenog zakona Republike Hrvatske i Kaznenog zakona Republike Slovenije
Author Štefan Smogavc
Mentor Vedrana Petrovečki (mentor)
Committee member Vedrana Petrovečki (predsjednik povjerenstva)
Committee member Marija Baković (član povjerenstva)
Committee member Davor Mayer (član povjerenstva)
Granter University of Zagreb School of Medicine Zagreb
Defense date and country 2017-09-12, Croatia
Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline BIOMEDICINE AND HEALTHCARE Clinical Medical Sciences Forensic Medicine
Abstract Physician liability laws are basic pillars of every civilized nation with organized health care. I will compare physician liability in criminal code between Slovenia and Croatia. Although countries use to have the same history and were under the same government, nowadays probably there are some differences in their new legal systems after both countries declared their independace around the same time 1991. Medicine has many different types of laws on different levels and legislative regulations and Criminal codes is only one that will be described here. In this review, I will try to represent some similarities, differences and give a clear as possible overview of what is physician criminal liability in Slovenia and Croatia in the case of CC legislation. Everyone should know most important laws, those can not be simply ignored, especially if they are concerning person’s own profession. In the case of physicians, this is even more important because usually, they deal with life and death situations. In medicine, there is a lot of uncertainty. Patient has to trust the doctor and then at the same time physician takes a lot of responsibilities and risks. There are few laws in CC that are directly concerning medical liability. For MDs forgery of medical certificates should be treated in both countries completely the same. For this offense, the physician can get imprisonment for up to three years. The same goes for unauthorized disclosure of professional secrets. The SCC offers an option of financial compensation, which CCC does not. For both countries is also the same in the case of unauthorized use of personal information. Croatia in this case also specifically emphasizes offenses against children or discriminations and therefore increases the assigned penalty. Careless treating in CCC is treated stricter than in SCC and it is a lot more defined through more paragraphs and lowers the penalties in case of negligence. In omission of medical assistance CCC is also stricter and assigns up to three years of imprisonment when comparing with SCC, which prescribes one year, but SCC, not that is just more tolerant, it also describes when the doctor is not liable for omitting emergency service. SCC better defines transplantations and unauthorized manipulation of the human genome. Slovenian law in this article also defines breach of sperm donor anonymity. In transplantation, article CCC is in generally very strict, but it also lowers the penalty in case of tissue is taken from a dead person. Dishonest practices and claims of having special knowledge and skills in some field are less strictly regulated in CCC, but both CCs are assigning higher sentences with the higher degree of damages caused by those unlawful physicians. False expert testimony is strictly regulated in both countries if the defendant was, in fact, innocent but he was found guilty after false expert testimony, the physician could get up to ten years in CCC for his illegal testimony in the same case in Slovenia up to eight years. Another article regulation that could affect physicians in CC is spread of infectious diseases which are again the same in both countries but Croatia has again bigger punishments.
Abstract (croatian) Pravni propisi koji se odnose na liječničku odgovornost temeljni su stupovi svake civilizirane nacije s organiziranom zdravstvenom skrbi. U radu će biti prikazana usporedba kaznenih zakona Republike Slovenije i Republike Hrvatske. Iako ove dvije države imaju sličnu povijest i bile su u prošlosti pod istom Vladom, za pretpostaviti je da danas postoje razlike u njihovim novim pravnim sustavima, nakon što su se otprilike u isto vrijeme, 1991. godine, postale neovisne. Medicinska djelatnost regulirana je brojnim pravnim propisima. Kazneni zakon je samo jedan od zakona koji regulira zdravstvenu djelatnost. U ovom ću radu pokušati predstaviti neke sličnosti i razlike kaznenog zakona Republike Slovenije i Republike Hrvatske u dijelu koji se odnosi na liječničku odgovornost. Svaki bi liječnik trebao znati najvažnije zakone koji se odnose na liječničku djelatnost zbog toga što se često nalaze u situacijama u kojima donose odluke od životne važnosti. Postoji nekoliko članaka Kaznenog zakona koji se odnose na liječničko djelovanje i koji se u Kaznenom zakonu nalaze opisane u različitim skupinama kaznenih dijela i bit će pobliže navedene i opisane u nastavku teksta. Lažno navođenje činjenica u medicinskoj dokumentaciji u obje se zemlje tretira potpuno isto. Za ovakav akt liječnik može dobiti zatvorsku kaznu do tri godine. Isto vrijedi i za neovlašteno otkrivanje profesionalne tajne. SKZ u ovom članku kaznenog zakona predviđa i mogućnost financijske naknade, dok u Hrvatskoj ta mogućnost ne postoji. Podjednaku zakonsku regulativu obje države imaju i u odnosu na članak zakona koji se odnosi na neovlašteno uporabu osobnih podataka. Ovdje treba dodati da se u Hrvatskoj u ovom slučaju posebno naglašavaju kaznena djela protiv djece ili diskriminacije i time se povećava dodijeljena kazna. Nesavjesno liječenje u hrvatskom kaznenom zakonu tretira se strože nego u slovenskom i detaljnije je definiran kroz više stavaka, te postoji mogućnost smanjenja kazne u slučaju nemara. Kod nepružanja medicinske pomoći Hrvatski kazneni zakon također je stroži i dodjeljuje do tri godine zatvora u usporedbi sa slovenskim koji propisuje godinu dana. SKZ ne samo da je tolerantniji, već navodi i kada liječnik nije odgovoran za nepružanje hitne pomoći. SKZ bolje definira transplantaciju i neovlaštenu manipulaciju ljudskim genomom. Slovenski zakon u ovom članku također definira kršenje anonimnosti darovatelja sperme. U članku KZ koji regulira postupak transplantacije HKZ je općenito stroži, ali moguće je okrivljenom i smanjiti kaznu u slučaju ako se tkivo uzima od umrle osobe. Neovlaštena praksa i nepriznate vještine te drugi nepriznati oblici liječenja (alternativna medicina) manje su strogo regulirani u HKZ-u, ali oba kaznena zakona dodjeljuju više kazne s višim stupnjem oštećenja uzrokovanih tim nezakonitim liječenjem. Davanje lažnog iskaza strogo je regulirano u obje zemlje. Ukoliko je optuženik nevin, a proglašen je krivim nakon lažnog svjedočenja (ili vještačenja), predviđena je kazna i do deset godina, a u istom slučaju u Sloveniji maksimalno do osam godina. Još je jedan članak kaznenog zakona koji bi trebao biti zanimljiv liječnicima, a odnosi se na širenje infektivnih bolesti. Ovaj članak kaznenog zakona je jednak u obje zemlje, ali Hrvatska opet ima veće kazne.
Keywords
physician liability
criminal code
Croatia
Slovenia
Keywords (croatian)
liječnika odgovornost
kazneni zakon
Hrvatska
Slovenija
Language english
URN:NBN urn:nbn:hr:105:624642
Study programme Title: Medicine (in English language) Study programme type: university Study level: integrated undergraduate and graduate Academic / professional title: doktor/doktorica medicine (doktor/doktorica medicine)
Type of resource Text
File origin Born digital
Access conditions Open access
Terms of use
Created on 2018-04-26 08:54:57