Doctors today often become defenseless in the society. The doctors become the scapegoat as a result of an error or erroneous perception of the action. The recent cases of civil disputes or criminal cases show that doctors remain alone. Today, the Armenian Lawyers’ Association represented by President Karen Zadoyan and the Armenian Association of Young Doctors, represented by President Gevorg Grigoryan, signed a cooperation agreement aimed at strengthening the mechanisms of legal protection of medical workers.
The two organizations unite their efforts for the following purposes:
- Strengthen and develop the mechanisms of legal protection of medical workers in Armenia;
- Promote the legal awareness of medical workers;
- Increase the level of legal protection of medical workers through legal assistance and implementation of public monitoring;
- Promote the implementation of legislative amendments aimed at defining and protecting the rights of medical workers;
- Promote raising public awareness about healthy lifestyle;
- Promote the implementation of anti-corruption reforms in Armenia.
Prior to signing the agreement at the workshop for the stakeholders, representative of the Armenian Association of Young Doctors Eva Chichoyan and the lawyer of the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, Mariam Zadoyan, spoke about the introduction of the Institute of Medical Ombudsman and the differentiation of the terms “medical error and medical negligence” as well as the international experience related to these issues.
Presenting the differences between medical negligence and medical error (based on international experience), Mariam Zadoyan noted that medical negligence may include medical errors, but not all medical errors are resulting from medical negligence.
Eva Chichoyan mentioned that in case of introducing the ombudsman’s institution, tere may be risks that the Ombudsman is viewed as a method of meeting patient complaints, and there is a tendency to ignore the medical workers providing medical services. And in case of introduction of this important institute, the healthcare workers should not be out of the “game”. In addition, at present, there are definitions in the legislation that do not allow doctors to effectively exercise their defense today.
