Evaluation of Physician Opinions Against Patient Complaints and Administrative and Judicial Instigations

Abstract

Aim: In recent years, physicians practicing in Turkey have started to face various legal processes such as patient complaints, medical malpractise,administrative disciplinary proceedings, criminal cases, and compensation lawsuits more frequently. This study aimed to evaluate the experiences and opinions of physicians on the subject. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in the form of a questionnaire, and the questions directed to the participants were created through the application called Google Forms and were requested to be filled in electronically. Results: The age range of 30-35 years (32.6%) and 1-5 years of professional experience (34.4%) had the highest participation rate. Among the physicians who participated in the survey, 80.2% stated that they had complained at least once, 81.5% stated that they had testified at least once in judicial institutions, and 46.8% stated that they had attended a hearing in court. Of the physicians, 21.8% received administrative penalties and 7.9% received judicial penalties. According to the results of our study, general practitioners and emergency medicine specialists were the most frequently complained about physicians who were prosecuted in judicial courts for assault,insult, and assault. Conclusion: Efforts should be made to reduce the forensic concerns of physicians, and a common perspective on the issue should be developed by creating platforms where medical and legal sciences come together.

Keywords

• medical malpractise
• physician error
• patient complaints
• defensive medicine