Skäligt straffansvar för misstag inom medicinsk vård och behandling

Medical mistakes are not excluded from the realm of Swedish criminal law. A physician or a nurse who makes an error that harms a patient can be punished for causing bodily injury or – if the consequences are fatal – for causing another’s death. Criminal charges in situations like these are rare, but they do occur and have led to some controversial convictions. This article examines the reasons to punish health care workers for medical mistakes, by discussing the accepted justifications for punishment against the backdrop of the particular characteristics of the health care setting, and the legal conditions under which health care workers can be held criminally liable. It concludes that for some medical mistakes that currently fall within the realm of criminal law, the reasons for punishment are very weak.