If you believe that a medical professional or medical institution have not provided you with adequate or appropriate quality medical care or have acted neglectfully, you can submit an application to the State Health Care Accreditation Agency. In certain situations, you may also apply to the State Police and ask them to initiate a criminal investigation.
Administrative violation procedure
If a medical professional or medical institution have not provided you with adequate or appropriate quality medical care or have acted neglectfully, you can initiate administrative violation proceedings by submitting an application to the State Health Care Accreditation Agency. In your application, you should describe the situation you are complaining about in detail, including what the medical professional or medical institution have done or failed to do. You must also describe how these actions or omissions have harmed your reproductive health.
After receiving your application, the State Health Care Accreditation Agency will decide whether to commence administrative violation proceedings. If a decision not to initiate these proceedings is made, you will receive a written reply to your application. If the State Health Care Accreditation Agency decides that it needs to carry out a more detailed investigation, it will commence the administrative violations proceedings, contact you and inform you about your right to be recognized as a victim in the case. You will also be informed about the possibility of requesting compensation for material damages or moral compensation for any bodily injury or moral harm that you may have suffered.
Criminal procedure
If a medical professional has unlawfully failed to fulfil his/her professional duties or has fulfilled them negligently, and such offence has resulted in serious or moderate bodily injury or has infected you with HIV or the hepatitis B or C virus, you can ask for a criminal investigation to be initiated according to the Lithuanian Criminal Code.
It is considered to be a criminal offence if serious or moderate bodily injury is caused to you. In such a situation, you can request the initiation of criminal proceedings by applying to the State Police. In your application, you should describe the situation in detail, including, what the medical professional has done or failed to do, and explain the kind of harm that has been caused to your health.
example If omission or negligence by a medical professional has caused the termination of your pregnancy, this will be considered as a serious bodily injury and you can request the initiation of criminal proceedings.
After receiving your application, the investigator may decide to commence criminal proceedings and in such a situation will contact you and inform you about your right to be recognized as a victim in the case. You will also be informed about the possibility of requesting compensation for any material damages, or compensation for the bodily and moral harm that you have suffered.
note You can also apply to the State Health Care Accreditation Agency. If, after detailed investigation, the State Health Care Accreditation Agency suspects that these criminal offences may have taken place, it must forward the case materials to the Police for criminal investigation.
Complaint to the Commission of evaluation of damage done to the patient’s health
You can submit a complaint to the Commission of evaluation of damage done to the patient’s health concerning damage compensation. The Commission will evaluate the decisions made by the doctors and the medical treatment provided to you.
The decision of the Commission must contain information about where and within which deadlines the decision can be appealed. The Commission is a mandatory institution for civil complaints as you cannot send your complaints directly to the court.