How to report medical negligence in cosmetic surgery

Criminal lawyers specializing in medical malpractice cases

The crime of causing injury through medical negligence in cosmetic surgery is a highly significant issue in both the legal and medical fields. This crime occurs when a medical professional fails to exercise due care during a cosmetic surgical procedure, resulting in the patient suffering injuries, physical harm, or even death. This article explains when and how to report medical negligence following cosmetic surgery.

Healthcare professionals have a duty to preserve and restore the patient’s health . And, although such an outcome is not always within their control, there are standards in medical practice from which a physician cannot unjustifiably deviate. Consequently, any professional who has not acted in accordance with the body of accepted medical practices for the exercise of the profession will be held criminally liable.

In the case of cosmetic surgery, the medical professional’s responsibility extends not only to performing the procedure itself, but also to the prior evaluation of the patient and providing adequate information about the risks and consequences of the operation. Furthermore, the doctor must have the necessary training and experience to carry out the procedure safely and effectively.

This crime is regulated in article 147 of the Penal Code, in relation to article 152 of the Penal Code, which considers the crime of injury to be “causing an injury that undermines the bodily integrity or the physical or mental health of another person.”

When medical negligence occurs during cosmetic surgery, the patient can suffer a wide range of injuries , from minor ones such as swelling or scarring, to serious ones such as infections, brain damage, or even death. In many cases, these injuries may require additional treatments and corrective surgeries, which can significantly increase medical costs and the patient’s emotional distress.

To establish medical negligence, three elements must be present (Supreme Court ruling of February 13, 1997): the existence of harm, that this harm is a consequence of the healthcare professional’s malpractice , and that there is a causal link between the harm suffered and the medical professional’s malpractice . Generally, to determine malpractice and the causal link, it will be necessary to consult a medical expert .

When does a case of medical negligence exist?

1. A voluntary action or omission in the exercise of a profession that constitutes a breach of the objective duty of care that must be observed. The Supreme Court, in its Judgment of March 11, 1991, considered that the evaluative criterion is the correctness of the specific medical act performed by the medical professional, taking into account the specific characteristics of the practitioner, the profession, the complexity of the act, and its vital importance to the patient, and, where applicable, the influence of endogenous factors, in order to determine whether or not said act conforms to the standard technique employed.
2. That the conduct results in a harmful, foreseeable and avoidable outcome so that, from a criminal point of view, responsibility can be demanded for the actions carried out by the doctor.
3. That there is a causal relationship between the action and the harmful result, with different theories existing on this point.

What criminal liability exists for medical negligence?

For medical negligence to be prosecuted criminally, the medical professional must have acted with fault or intent in their intervention with the patient undergoing cosmetic surgery. This will be understood to have occurred when there is an intention to cause harm or when the professional acts with indifference to the risk of harm to a patient.

Normally, criminal proceedings are used for cases of death or serious and irreversible injuries caused by negligent actions of medical professionals who perform cosmetic surgery.

Furthermore, the criminal process, in addition to compensation for damages caused, specifically provides for injuries caused by professional negligence, the request for the penalty of special disqualification from the exercise of the health profession for a period of 6 months to 4 years, a fine and imprisonment, this last provision being what differentiates the criminal route from the civil route.

What serious negligent conduct generates criminal liability?

1. Death of the patient: constitutes a crime of manslaughter which implies a penalty of 1 to 4 years in prison with special disqualification from practicing the health profession of 3 to 6 years.
2. Injury affecting bodily, moral or physical integrity that does not require subsequent surgery: entails the imposition of a fine.
3. Injury affecting bodily, physical or moral integrity and requiring surgical treatment: carries a prison sentence of 3 to 6 months and disqualification from practicing the health profession for between 1 and 4 years.
4. Loss of a limb or a major organ of the body, loss of a sense, impotence, sterility, mutilations or bodily deformities: carries a prison sentence of 1 to 3 years and disqualification from practicing the health profession of 1 to 4 years.
5. Loss of a non-principal limb or impairment of an organ: implies a prison sentence of 6 months to 2 years with special disqualification of 1 to 4 years.

Finally, we must address the criminal liability of legal entities , including clinics and hospitals, which could be held responsible for the actions of physicians working in their healthcare facilities. In this regard, the failure to properly fulfill the legal entity’s oversight obligations may result in criminal liability for the organization itself if crimes are committed by its employees for the benefit of the entity.

What is the procedure for claiming criminal liability for medical negligence?

The procedure will begin by filing a complaint or lawsuit against the medical professional who is considered responsible for the crime of injury or the crime of homicide committed through medical negligence.

Once the complaint or lawsuit is accepted for processing, all the necessary investigative steps will be taken to clarify the facts and to be able to attribute criminal responsibility to the accused professional in a subsequent trial.

If you have experienced any of the cases mentioned above, know someone who has experienced something similar, or do not know how to report medical negligence, do not hesitate to contact the criminal law firm Nieto Enríquez Abogados Penalistas in Barcelona .

What you need is a medical malpractice lawyer . We are expert criminal lawyers, and we travel throughout Spain, Europe, and the United Kingdom.