Compensation in case of medical negligence

Can a person receive compensation for damages resulting from the lack of adequate medical care?

In 2022, the team of Georgiev & Petrov Law Firm managed to win a case with a non-final decision against a medical facility that had not followed established medical practices and treatment algorithm. Thus, our client was awarded non-pecuniary damages in the amount of 10,000 leva, which our team considers insufficient and for this reason the case will be reviewed by a higher court.

The case is interesting and complex because the failure of the medical institution to fulfill its obligations is based on principled and abstract grounds. Another reason why this case deserves attention is that it can be used as a model for other similar cases in which a patient was not provided with the necessary medical care, which led to damage to his health.

In 2020, our client visited an ophthalmologist because he complained of impaired vision in one eye and the appearance of black spots in his field of vision. In this particular case, the medical professional - ophthalmologist, to whom our client goes, does not appoint important studies that good medical standards prescribe. In this way the doctor violates our client's right to access the best practices in medicine. The medical professional did not perform the mandatory examinations according to established practices, thus causing the retina of one of our client's eyes to detach and he began to irreversibly lose vision in one eye. Despite the client's "classic" symptoms, the doctor who performed the initial examination neglected the situation by not approaching the case responsibly enough.

During the court proceedings, witnesses were heard who spoke about all the hardships that our client had to endure as a result of the poor medical treatment she received. In order to assess the actions of the defendant medical institution, a medical expert report had to be prepared during the course of the case. This led to a delay in the process by several months, caused by the lack of ophthalmologists who would be expert witnesses. Taking into account the information collected, The court decided categorically that a tort (unlawful conduct) was committed by the initial medical facility where our client sought help.

The court, taking into account all the facts of the case, considered that there were violations in several areas – under Art. 79 of the Health Act (on the application of established medical science and practice), Art. 81 para. 2. item 1 of the Health Act, which states that the right to medical care is implemented by applying basic principles such as timeliness, sufficiency and quality, as well as a violation by the doctor of Art. 6 para. 1 of the Medical Institutions Act, since medical care was not provided in accordance with the established standards.

Despite the complexity of the case and the length of the case, our team of experienced lawyers did an excellent job, managing to at least partially restore justice for our client.

You can learn more about your rights as patients. from here.