Before starting treatment, patients in Ukraine are often asked to sign documents stating that they have no claims against the doctor or medical institution in case of complications. For many patients, such papers seem like a formal part of medical procedures, but in practice, their content can raise many questions. Can such documents release doctors from responsibility in case of medical error? Does the patient retain the right to protect their interests if they have signed the consent? How legal is the practice of signing such documents? – Read the answers to all these questions in the UNN material.
In Ukrainian medical institutions, especially private ones, patients are offered to sign a package of documents before starting treatment. Among them, there is usually an informed voluntary consent to medical intervention – a document confirming that the patient has been informed about the nature of the treatment, possible risks, complications, and alternative methods of therapy.
Such requirements are stipulated by Ukrainian legislation, in particular, the "Fundamentals of Ukrainian Legislation on Healthcare." At the same time, in practice, in some clinics, along with informed consent, they offer to sign a waiver of claims against the doctor or medical institution in case of complications or negative health consequences of treatment. How much does this practice comply with the law and does the patient retain the right to protection, explained medical lawyer Dmytro Kasyanenko in an exclusive comment for UNN.
In practice, private clinics often offer patients to sign so-called waivers of claims. But legally, such documents have very limited significance. The law allows only informed consent of the patient to medical intervention – that is, confirmation that the person was warned about possible risks and complications. At the same time, a waiver of the right to protection or of the doctor's responsibility is not provided for by law.
Informed consent is primarily a mechanism for protecting patient rights. The doctor is obliged to explain what treatment is offered, what the consequences might be, and to obtain the person's voluntary consent to medical procedures. However, this consent does not mean that the medical institution is automatically released from responsibility in case of violation of treatment standards.
Even if the patient signed such a document (waiver of claims in case of complications - ed.), the medical institution is not released from responsibility in case of medical error, negligence, or violation of medical standards. In such cases, the patient retains the right to appeal to court or law enforcement agencies.
It is also important that patients often sign documents in hospitals in a hurry, without reading their content. This happens in stressful or emotional situations: before an operation, during acute pain, or anxiety for their own health or the health of a loved one. At such moments, people trust doctors and do not pay attention to legal formulations that may be contained in the documents.
However, it is in these papers that provisions may sometimes be written that look like a complete waiver of claims against the doctor or medical institution. Dmytro Kasyanenko emphasizes that the patient's signature on the document should not be a formality. Before signing it, it is worth carefully reading the text, clarifying unclear formulations, and making sure that the document really concerns only informed consent to treatment.
Before signing, it is worth carefully reading the wording. The document should contain a description of the risks of treatment, and not a complete waiver of claims. If the text raises doubts, the patient has the right not to sign it or to demand an explanation.
Why has the topic of patient protection become particularly relevant?
The issue of patient rights and the responsibility of medical institutions has recently been actively discussed in Ukraine against the backdrop of resonant stories related to the activities of individual private clinics.
In particular, according to the Prosecutor General's Office, law enforcement officers are investigating 10 criminal proceedings involving the Odesa private clinic "Odrex". Cases have been opened under articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine related to possible fraud, improper performance of professional duties by medical workers, and intentional murder.
Against the backdrop of the resonance around this case, the families of deceased patients and people who consider themselves victims of treatment at the clinic created the public initiative StopOdrex.
Activists launched a website and Telegram channel, through which they collect stories about negative experiences of treatment at the Odrex clinic and inform about the progress of criminal proceedings.
The death of businessman Adnan Kivan at the Odrex clinic became the impetus for a broad public discussion of this topic. According to the investigation, in this case, two doctors were notified of suspicion of improper performance of professional duties, which led to the patient's death.
After the story received wide resonance in the media, more and more people began to publicly talk about their own experience of treatment in this medical institution and about the criminal proceedings in which the clinic is involved.
That is why the issue of patient rights, the legal responsibility of doctors, and the content of documents that people sign before treatment today goes far beyond individual stories and becomes the subject of public discussion about the safety and transparency of Ukrainian medicine.