You have a right to file a complaint if you believe that your patient rights were violated during your medical treatment or your medical data were not protected. You also have a right to compensation if your health or life were harmed during your medical treatment.
Complaints regarding medical treatment
Complaint to the medical institution
If you have encountered issues during your medical treatment, you may first turn to the respective medical institution. You may contact your doctor, the head of the department or the head of the medical institution.
example A doctor determines a diagnosis after an examination of your medical records. When you ask for an explanation about what it means, the doctor refuses to provide detailed information and offers for you to read about it on the internet yourself. You may complain to the clinic’s administration about the non-observance of your right to information about your health condition.
Complaint to the responsible institutions
If your claim is not solved after turning to the doctor or medical institution, you may submit your complaint to the State Health care Accreditation Service.
note Claims involving national health insurance should be sent to the National Health Insurance Fund and claims involving bioethics should be sent to the Lithuanian Bioethics Committee.
Depending on the gravity of the violation, the State Health Care Accreditation Service may:
- order the medical institution to correct the violations
- issue a warning to the medical institution
- suspend the work of a medical institution
- apply an administrative fine to a medical professional or the head of a medical institution, • etc.
Appeal
You can appeal a decision of the State Health Care Accreditation Service to the Central Commission for Administrative Disputes or the Vilnius Regional Administrative Court.
note Each complaint is evaluated individually. Most violations are examined and rectified by the State Health care Accreditation Service. However, if there are signs of a criminal offense, the materials are forwarded to police to commence a criminal investigation. The police may also begin a criminal investigation on their own initiative.
example Negligence by a medical practitioner which has caused serious or moderate bodily injury to a patient is a criminal offence under the Lithuanian Criminal Code.
You have the right to file an application to the court to protect your patient rights and interests, if the issues you have encountered cannot be solved through turning to the State Health Care Accreditation Service.
Compensation for harm to a patient’s life or health
If your life or health was harmed during your medical treatment, you can apply to the Commission for Determination of Harm Caused to Patients' Health, which works under the Ministry of Health, requesting compensation for:
- harm (also moral harm) caused to your life or health
- medical expenses caused to you to prevent or reduce the effects of that harm
note Compensation is calculated based on the rules set out in the Description of the compensation procedure for material and non-material damage caused by damage to the patient's health.
note If a patient dies, the patient's heir has the right to submit a claim for compensation. Other persons who had a particularly close relationship with the patient also have the right to compensation for non-pecuniary damage.
If you are not happy with the decision of the Commission for Determination of Harm Caused to Patients' Health, you can file an application to the civil court (general competence).
Complaints regarding medical data protection
You also have the right to complain to the State Data Protection Inspectorate if the information which concerns your health - your medical data - has been unlawfully processed, for example, unlawfully disclosed to other persons or institutions.
Read more about how to complain about potential violations regarding your medical data protection.