| Abstract [eng] |
The author analyzes in the article the concept of a person equivalent to a public servant defined in paragraph 3 Article 230 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania, in order to determine if a physician who has improperly provided individual health care services through negligence is considered to be a person equivalent to a public servant for the purpose of Article 230 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania, i.e. if he can be the entity of failure to perform official duties (Article 229 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Lithuania). Introduction: The patient and the physician are linked by the obligation, the content of which includes the physician‘s duty to ensure that this obligation is carried out by adding the maximum effort, i.e. ensuring maximum degree of attention, diligence, prudence and proficiency. The physician who has breached that duty shall, inter alia, compensate for damages. In addition, the physician may be subject to disciplinary liability and/or to criminal liability as ultima ratio measure in the event of particularly grave violation of the duties causing serious consequences. Thus, although the physician‘s professional liability (compensation for damages caused) issue should be, first of all, resolved using civil law instruments, and only when it is found that results can not be achieved with other instruments (administrative, disciplinary, civil penalties and public exposure means) unrelated to application of criminal penalties, criminal liability should be applied. However, the cases where application of criminal liability to the physician as prima- or even solo ratio is sought regardless of the scale of the physician‘s failure to perform his duty and dangerousness of the act are becoming increasingly common in practice. Application of criminal liability as prima- or even solo ratio is extremely facilitated by Article 229 ―Failure to Perform Official Duties‖138 of the Criminal Code of the Republic o. |
