ABSTRACT

The new Turkish Penal Code which came into force in June 2005 has brought some changes in the definitions of the legal and penal responsibilities of physicians. On the other hand, the changing conditions of the current health practices and the commercial concerns taking the lead have brought serious doubts about a physician-patient relationship based on trust. As a result, in our country, medical malpractice claims against physicians have significantly increased in recent years. In the last 10 years, the subject has been discussed in various platforms and there is a dynamic process that continues the search for solutions. To date, considering the emerging cases of medical malpractice statistics, it is remarkable that the most frequent claim against both physicians and other health personnel is the complaint about "not fulfilling their obligation of duty of care". In this review, we examined the basic concepts and processes leading to medical malpractice, which has become a serious threat to physicians, in order to improve physicians' knowledge about this phenomenon.