Private law and criminal law responsibilities of medical doctors resulting from pregnancy terminations

The termination of the pregnancies has been a topic of discussion in the fields like medicine, law, ethics, philosophy, religion since thousands of years. Though the points of view and approaches show variabilities depending on time and place, it is generally known, that neither to allow nor to restrict abortions by all means can be a solution. For this reason, almost all the legal systems of the coutries including also ours, allow abortions only under certain circumstances and people who perform an abortion not conforming these conditions are held responsible. Though the abortions performed by anyone using any kind of methods lead also to one's responsibility, the issue which especially attracts public attention and brings out a discussion in recent times is the medical interventions of the doctors for performing an abortion. In this study the responsibility of the doctors is handled both from the aspect of private law and criminal law. In private law, responsibility regarding abortions, may derive from contract between the doctor and pregnant woman or her legal representative, from tort and from acting without authority. Additionally, according to the related articles of the Turkish Obligations Code absolute liability of the doctor may also be in the question. Besides, the private hospital, where the abortion was performed, can also be held responsible on the basis of contract or absolute liability. In order to rule for a compensation, four components, opposition to law, damage, fault, and causality should exist. In this study , these matters are handled in accompany of examples from medical and legal practise and additionally, characteristics related to the proving process and to the calculation of the compensation are elaborated. In terms of criminal responsibility of the doctors related to pregnancy termination, the Abortion and Miscarriage Offences, which are regulated respectively in Article 99 and Article 100 of Turkish Penal Code, are elaborated from various aspects. In order to prevent the doctors to commit crime and to cause damage to their patients, and to inform them how to avoid responsibility, to act in accordance with the provisions of Population Regulation Act, to get the informed consent of the patient, not perform any medical intervention without informed consent, without indication or without authority and to record everything completely are emphasized as the most important issues to be considered.