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They will require the police and the prosecutor’s office to publicly explain their approach to such investigations and will become the first step toward changing the legislation
Protecting Doctors and Patients from the Criminalization of Medical Cases
A petition to establish clear rules for investigating the deaths of seriously ill patients, so that such cases are not groundlessly classified as “intentional homicide” and do not become a pretext for wiretapping, mass access to confidential medical information, and pressure on medical professionals
1,075
signatures
1,075 of 3,000 signatures collected
1,925 more signatures to give the petition weight for broader public communication.
Problem: Law enforcement agencies have begun using the deaths of seriously ill patients as a means of pressuring medical professionals and unlawfully collecting information. The case of Dr. Rusakov is illustrative: after the death of a patient with cancer — over 60 years old, in the terminal stage, after six courses of chemotherapy — the police opened a case under the article of “intentional homicide.” This classification gave investigators a pretext to wiretap doctors and gain access to the medical confidentiality of an unlimited number of other patients. The charge was later reclassified as “medical negligence,” but the indictment does not even specify which particular clinical protocol the doctor allegedly violated.
Every year, more than 60,000 people in Ukraine die from cancer. The medical community is faced with legitimate questions: will doctors begin refusing to treat complex patients if every death is investigated as homicide? And how can the absence of violations be proven if clinical protocols are not even mentioned in the charges?
The absence of clear answers at the legislative level will inevitably lead to:
- Stagnation in medicine: the development and implementation of advanced treatment methods will come to a halt.
- A shortage of personnel: fewer people will enroll in medical universities, and young doctors will refuse to enter specialties with objectively high patient mortality rates — oncology, surgery, intensive care — due to fear of criminal repression.
Solution: We ask the relevant state authorities and lawmakers, in particular the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on National Health, Medical Care and Medical Insurance, to initiate official hearings with the participation of the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Main Investigation Department of the National Police in order to regulate the following issues:
- A legislative ban on classifying deaths from diseases with high mortality rates as “intentional homicide.”
- Restrictions on the mass seizure of medical documents and wiretapping that violate the rights of other patients.
- An obligation for law enforcement agencies to clearly specify in the charges which particular provisions of treatment protocols were violated.
- Strengthening the institution of civil liability for medical error — following the example of the United States and the European Union — by introducing insurance and procedures for insurance-based investigations of such cases.
Result: Doctors will be able to save seriously ill patients without fear of groundless repression, patients’ medical confidentiality will be protected, and young specialists will not be afraid to work in surgery, oncology, and intensive care. We ask you to support this initiative and bring the issue to hearings.
1,075 of 3,000 signatures collected
FAQ
No. This is not about impunity, but about fair rules: criminal liability should arise for intentional actions or gross negligence, not for the natural death of a seriously ill patient
If doctors fear criminal prosecution for complex cases, they may refuse to treat high-risk patients. This is especially dangerous for oncology, surgery, and intensive care
If the death of a seriously ill patient is immediately called murder, then in any complex case investigators may examine private conversations, seize medical records, and obtain data about other patients. Everyone is at risk, not only doctors
To hold expert hearings and develop rules that will protect patients, medical confidentiality, and doctors from the unfounded criminalization of complex medical cases