Introduction

This article provides an analysis of the decisions of medical disciplinary boards (Polish “medical courts”) and cassation decisions of the Supreme Court with regard to physicians’ professional responsibility, focusing on family physicians and physicians employed in primary healthcare. Those rulings from which a standard can be distilled for the practice of the medical profession were selected for more detailed discussion. Such rulings are discussed in their medical and legal aspects in order to highlight the characteristics of physicians’ professional responsibility. The examples discussed in this article highlight a medical practitioner’s fundamental rights in proceedings before medical disciplinary boards—the right to conduct a defense—and the sentencing guidelines, including the possibility of publishing the decision in the regional disciplinary board’s bulletin. The aim of this article is to provide valuable guidelines for the formation of a professional working standard for family doctors and those employed in primary healthcare.

Material and methods

It consists of an analysis of OSL, NSL, and SC judgments.

Results

In terms of OSL cases in Warsaw in 2016, 71%; in 2017 it was 65.4%, and in 2018 65% of cases. When it comes to NSL cases in 2016, 83% involved a failure in due diligence; in 2017 it was 72%. For SC cases, there were 7 in 2015, 18 in 2016, 25 in 2017, and 37 in 2018.

Conclusions

Judgments of medical courts create the standards for the medical profession.