The medical profession is one of the oldest and most important professions in the world. Since the beginning of history, regulations have been established to control and legalize it, relying on criminal regulations to prevent the intervention of the uninformed in this profession to burden the responsibilities of a doctor.
Medical law approaches criminal law when it explains medical crimes and the punishments governing them in the light of medical penal law, and when it bases its study on the doctor-patient relationship, medical contracts and the role of third parties, in The realm of private law is placed.
Apart from this, in Iranian law, the main reliance of the legislator is first on the criminal responsibilities and then on the civil responsibilities of a doctor, while looking at similar cases in the laws of other countries, the civil responsibility of the doctor and, accordingly, the compensation of the damages are emphasized a lot. has been Nevertheless, the concepts of Diyeh and Arash in Iranian law can help in compensating the injured.
The causes of the doctor’s responsibility have been categorized as follows:
Deliberate – error – opposition to the principles of the medical profession – not knowing the principles of the medical profession – violation of the patient’s permission – violation of the permission of the patient’s guardian – abandoning treatment – prohibited treatments – revealing patients’ secrets
The issue of medical responsibility is to examine the types of crimes committed by the doctor, to prove whether these crimes create liability for him or not, to state how to prove it against the doctor and to mention the consequences of this proof. Some other jurists consider the doctor’s responsibility to be one of the types of professional responsibility, and if a person from that profession commits acts against the ethics, customs or regulations of that profession, he will be dealt with. In the same way, in the medical profession, there is a set of rules and regulations that must be followed by doctors, and in case of violation, punishments are imposed on the violators. This responsibility, which is caused by disciplinary fault, is called professional responsibility.
In Iranian law, the doctor’s responsibility is based on the theory of presumed fault, and the doctor must prove his innocence. It seems that a distinction should be made between different assumptions, in such a way that if the subject of the treatment is related to necessary surgeries such as heart surgery, special diseases, etc., here it is better not to blame the doctor so that the doctor complies with the principles and regulations of medicine. Treat the patient with peace of mind. However, if the treatment is related to unnecessary and cosmetic or restorative surgeries and requires spending exorbitant costs, it can be considered the doctor’s fault.
