Principles of Criminal Responsibility of Physicians in Unintentional Crimes in Iran and England

Physicians all over the world are responsible for the care, recovery and treatment of patients, but sometimes as a result of inadequate care or negligence of Physicians, there is a great deal of damage to patients, which in addition to the legal aspect of the case that results in substantial damages, can result in criminal or police liability of physicians. In principle, criminal law does not interfere with errors because of the deliberate nature of the crimes. Because it is unjustifiably excluded from the scope of criminal law, criminal law only permits its individuals to intervene in unintentional acts, only in very rare and important cases, such as the protection of their physical integrity. Neglect and error, except in exceptional cases, should not fall within the scope of criminal law. If unintentional behavior is not recognized in criminal law, physician behavior should be excluded from criminal law. However, the Iranian legal system has classified such actions as unintentional offenses and within the jurisdiction of criminal authorities. Even in the British legal system, a competent criminal authority is under consideration even for the presumption that the punishment for unintentional misconduct would result in physical harm. Harmful acts committed by a physician such as abortion are only a crime if they are deliberately committed, except in the event of death by the physician, which the legislator has in any case mandated imprisonment to commit unintentional crime. It is the fault of the perpetrator that involves not following scientific and practical standards. The findings of the study show that both legal systems consider the criminal record to be applicable if the physician has committed gross negligence. Please cite this article as: Mahdavi Sabet MA, Ashuri M, Mehra N, Mazloumi S. Principles of Criminal Responsibility of Physicians in Unintentional Crimes in Iran and England. Iran J Med Law 2020; 14(53): 33-53.