Medical Law in Ukraine

De Jure Law Firm has been practicing in the field of medical law for over 10 years in Odessa and Southern Ukraine, since its foundation.

What is medical law?

The field of medical law covers a wide range of legal relations in the field of healthcare organisation, regulates the organization of the provision and quality control of medical services, the relationship between the hospital and the patient, the doctor and the patient, and the hospital and the doctor.

Medical law is a relatively young branch of law in Ukraine. Back in 2007, there were only a few companies on the legal services market that specialised in this sector; after 2010 - about 10. However, this field quickly became popular and here's why:

• Ukrainians, following lawsuit westerly, all more often try to protect the rights and recover the caused losses.
• The Ukrainian legislation in the field of medical services has a great number of defects and clearly not enough regulates this sphere of relations. It results sometimes in abuses from the side of patients.
• Medical insurance becomes more popular and highly sought. Accordingly, non-fulfillment of her terms draws producing of legitimate claims against offending party.
• Medical reform in Ukraine obliged large hospitals, that had status of budgetary establishments before, to be reorganised in communal noncommercial enterprises and got independence. Actually, they began to work in market conditions and needed skilled legal support; private medicine develops actively, mastering all new directions and extending the spectrum of services, that so far were practically inaccessible in Ukraine. Medical business needs better legal security.

Medical Law in Ukraine

In Ukraine, there is a significant staff shortage for specialists who can provide high-quality protection services in the field of medical law, so society is not yet accustomed to the fact that violations of medical law can cause serious proceedings.

De Jure Law Firm, founded and guided by Grigoriy Tripulskiy has been serving one of the largest private medical centers in the South of Ukraine for over 10 years: Odrex Medical House. There are also other clients in our practice: communal hospitals, dental centers and offices, an ophthalmological center, a plastic surgery clinic, a bioimplant company.

Despite the development of medical law, some representatives of medicine are still trying to save money on legal services. Many of them are looking for an opportunity to close most of the issues on their own or by in-house lawyers. They turn to law firms only when there is a real complicated problem, and also when they need to hedge themselves by making serious decisions. Therefore, our work with clients is quite diverse, some of them need constant comprehensive service, others turn when troubles become inevitable. Of course, this also depends on the size of the organisation and the number of employees working in it.

Medical Law range of assistance

Due to the established activities, the priority of the Law Firm is to serve the providers of medical services, and not their clients. De Jure helps medical institutions, representatives of the pharmaceutical market, medical device manufacturers to avoid risks and act in the legal field. Here is the services provided by the Law Firm:

• Legal support of the company's economic activities.
• Work with contracts and legal documents (development, preparation for signing, legal analysis and control of their implementation).
• Representing the interests of the company in government bodies.
• Provision of legal advice.
• Development of internal documentation, support of licensing issues and obtaining permits.
• We help to obtain licenses: for medical practice, for the use of drugs and sources of ionizing radiation, for the sale of medicines.
• We accompany the process of legalization of medical devices.
• We are engaged in the legalization of the medical practice of foreign doctors.
• We help medical institutions prepare for accreditation.
• We accompany inspections by regulatory authorities, from preparation to appeal of results.
• We represent interests in courts.
• We analyze advertising campaigns and materials on medical and pharmaceutical topics.
• We accompany tender purchases and transactions.

The work consists not only to protect against unfair claims, but also, if necessary, to restore the reputation of a medical specialist / institution. After all, the claims of a disgruntled patient can not only lead to material losses, but also be the basis for criminal prosecution.

It is important that a lawyer participates in the negotiations during certain conflict situations, including as a mediator. This helps not only to resolve the conflict that has arisen between the parties in the fairest way, but also to legally correctly consolidate the agreements reached between the Parties.

Many medical institutions are interested in the correct establishment of a system for maintaining medical records, and the registration of civil relations with patients, because this is a guarantee of their safety.

In view of the foregoing, as in the case of disease prevention, it is always recommended to establish the legal security of your medical business in advance, before conflict situations arise.

Oleksandr Hun, Head of Medical Team De-Jure LLC