Medical negligence

State or private provider

Whoever causes harm by a faulty, unlawful act must pay compensation for it (Code of Obligations, TBK art. 49). A hospital answers for harm its staff cause at work unless it proves due care in choosing, instructing and supervising them, and a business must also show that its organisation was fit to prevent the harm (art. 66). Under a contract, the provider answers for the people it uses to perform it; for a service that needs a licence, a clause excluding that liability is void (art. 116).

The Court of Jurisdictional Disputes (Uyuşmazlık Mahkemesi) treats a foundation university’s own hospital like a state hospital (E.2022/118). Private hospitals belong to the civil courts, including those working under a protocol with a foundation university (E.2024/95, E.2026/120). Consumer law covers mandate (vekâlet) contracts and contracts for work (eser) (TKHK art. 3), so a claim against a private provider can be a consumer case, and a consumer may also sue in the consumer court where they live (art. 73). Whether the consumer court or the general civil court hears a particular claim depends on the facts and is not settled.

What can be claimed, and who pays

For bodily injury, the losses are treatment costs, lost earnings, loss or reduction of working capacity, and harm to economic prospects (TBK art. 54). After a death, they include funeral costs, treatment costs and lost working capacity if death was not immediate, and the loss suffered by those the deceased supported (art. 53). The court may also order non-pecuniary damages (manevi tazminat) for the injured person and, after a severe injury or a death, for the relatives (art. 56).

These losses are calculated under the Code of Obligations even when the claim is against the administration (art. 55). Law 7589 added two rules for lost working capacity and loss of support, for events after it came into force on 31 July 2026 (art. 55):

• statutory interest runs from the date of the event on the compensation for the period in which the earnings are known, and from the judgment date on the compensation for the period in which they cannot be known;
• payments made towards the claim before the evidence stage (tahkikat) begins are deducted proportionally.

The statutory interest calculator computes such interest over a period.

Doctors and dentists must be insured against malpractice claims, including recourse claims against them. In a public institution the doctor and the institution each pay half the premium; a private institution arranges the insurance for its staff and pays half, and self-employed doctors arrange their own (Law 1219 additional art. 12). A victim may claim directly from a liability insurer, up to the sum insured (TTK art. 1478). The cover amounts are set by the Treasury and are not repeated here.

Treatment errors, misdiagnosis and consent

Where treatment is given under a mandate, the doctor must act loyally and with care, measured against what a prudent agent doing similar work would do (TBK art. 506). A wrong diagnosis or a failed treatment is judged by that standard. Who must prove what depends on the basis of the claim:

• In contract, once the patient shows the treatment was not performed properly, the provider is liable unless it proves it bore no fault (TBK art. 112).
• In tort, the claimant must prove the damage and the fault (art. 50).

Before a procedure, the patient must be told the probable causes and course of the illness, who will carry out the procedure and how, the alternatives with their risks and benefits, possible complications and the risks of refusing (Patient Rights Regulation art. 15). The doctor then needs the prior consent of the patient, or of the parent or guardian of a minor or a person under guardianship; for major surgery it must be in writing (Law 1219 art. 70). Since a 2025 amendment, consent may also be given electronically, with the person’s identity verified. Consent is not required where the patient cannot express a view or, for a minor or ward, no parent or guardian is present (art. 70).

Whether the care fell short is a medical question, and the court decides it with expert evidence (see below).

Cosmetic surgery, hair transplants and obesity surgery

These procedures follow the general rules on this page, the consent rules above included. Points to check:

• Who did the work. Only a holder of a medical diploma may treat patients (Law 1219 art. 1), and treating patients without one is a criminal offence (art. 25). Apart from minor surgery, only a doctor holding the qualification in surgery or its branch that the Law requires may operate (art. 3). Ask the clinic in writing who carried out each step.
• Which time limit. Consumer law covers both mandate and contracts for work (TKHK art. 3). Contract claims under either are time-barred after 5 years, but for a contract for work the general 10 years applies where the contractor, through gross fault, did not perform at all or properly (TBK art. 146, 147). How a court will classify a particular procedure is not settled, so plan around the shortest period: 2 years from treatment for a defective service (TKHK art. 16).
• Patients from abroad. The International Health Tourism and Tourist Health Regulation of 2025 covers patients who travel to Türkiye for treatment, Turkish citizens living abroad included (art. 2, 4). The facility must insure surgical and interventional procedures in an operating room against complications, and the facility and the agency each answer for their own services, including complications that arise after treatment (art. 6). Its other duties, and claiming from abroad, are covered under dental negligence.

Birth injuries

A child acquires rights from conception, provided it is born alive (Civil Code, TMK art. 28), and its parents act for it as its legal representatives (art. 342). The child claims for its own bodily injury and non-pecuniary loss (TBK art. 54, 56); where the injury is severe, the parents may also claim non-pecuniary damages in their own right (art. 56). After a death, art. 53 sets out the losses that can be claimed.

In criminal law, the penalty for negligent injury rises by half if the injury causes a premature birth, and doubles if it causes a pregnant woman to lose her child (TCK art. 89).

Where the birth took place in a state hospital, the application to the administration comes first:

A worked example (hypothetical). A child is born in a state hospital on 3 November 2025. On 16 March 2026 a report from another hospital first links the child’s injury to the delivery; assume the parents learned of the hospital’s act that day. The application to the administration is due by 16 March 2027, and in any case within five years of the birth (İYUK art. 13). The parents apply on 1 February 2027, and the administration rejects the claim by a decision served on 18 February 2027. The 60 days to sue start the next day, so the last day is 19 April 2027, a Monday (İYUK art. 7, 8, 13). Had the administration stayed silent, the claim would have counted as rejected after 30 days, and the 60 days would have run from then (art. 13).

Time limits and mediation

State hospital. The law sets these steps:

1. Apply to the administration within 1 year of learning of the act, and in any case within 5 years of the act (İYUK art. 13).
2. Wait up to 30 days. If the administration does not answer within 30 days, the application counts as rejected (art. 13).
3. Sue within 60 days, counted from the day after the rejection is served, or from the end of the 30 days (art. 7, 8, 13). A period whose last day is a holiday runs to the end of the next working day; one ending during the courts’ recess from 20 July to 31 August is extended by seven days from the day after the recess ends (art. 8, 61).

Mediation law covers only private-law disputes (HUAK art. 1), so there is no mediation step against a state hospital.

Private provider. The period depends on how the claim is characterised, and which one a court will apply is not settled:

• in tort, 2 years from learning of the damage and the person liable, and at most 10 years from the act (TBK art. 72);
• in contract, 5 years for claims from a mandate, otherwise 10 years as a rule (art. 146, 147);
• for a defective consumer service, 2 years from performance even if the defect appears later, unless it was concealed by gross fault or fraud (TKHK art. 16).

Where the act is also a crime with a longer limitation period, that period applies (TBK art. 72); whether this also reaches the hospital as employer is not settled.

Where the consumer court hears the claim, mediation must be tried first (TKHK art. 73/A). Consumer disputes below a value limit set each year go to the consumer arbitration committee (tüketici hakem heyeti) instead (art. 68); whether a committee will deal with a personal-injury claim is not settled. Limitation is suspended from the application to the mediation bureau until the final minutes (HUAK art. 18/A).

A worked example (hypothetical). A patient has cosmetic surgery at a private clinic on 2 June 2025. On 13 October 2025 another doctor’s report shows what went wrong and who was responsible. Three end dates are possible: 2 June 2027 for a defective service, two years from treatment (TKHK art. 16); 13 October 2027 in tort, two years from learning, within ten years of the operation (TBK art. 72); and later still in contract (art. 147). As the courts have not settled which period applies, the date to work to is the earliest. Days spent in mediation, from the application to the final minutes, do not count (HUAK art. 18/A).

Medical records and evidence

Patients may inspect and copy their whole file, personally or through a lawyer or legal representative, and ask for incomplete or wrong records to be corrected (Patient Rights Regulation art. 16, 17). The Ministry of Health must also run a system through which people, or those they authorise, can access their own health data (Law 3359 additional art. 19).

The court appoints an expert (bilirkişi) where special or technical knowledge is needed (HMK art. 266); in practice, reports often come from the Forensic Medicine Institute (Adli Tıp Kurumu) or university panels. A party may file its own scientific opinion (uzman görüşü), and the court may hear the person who gave it (art. 293). Where evidence risks being lost, the court can secure it before a lawsuit by inspection, expert examination or witness statement (delil tespiti, art. 400–402).

Since Law 7589 of July 2026, a new claim can no longer be filed as an unquantified claim (belirsiz alacak davası; HMK art. 107 repealed). A partial claim (kısmi dava) may instead be increased once, until the end of the evidence stage, and limitation for the increase counts as interrupted from the filing date (art. 109). This matters because malpractice losses are often quantified only after the expert report.

Criminal investigations and recourse against doctors

Conscious negligence (bilinçli taksir), where the person foresaw the outcome but did not want it, raises the penalty by one third to one half (TCK art. 22). Negligent injury is subject to conciliation (uzlaştırma); negligent homicide is not (CMK art. 253).

Investigations of doctors, dentists and other health professionals over examination, diagnosis or treatment, in public or private institutions and foundation universities, follow Law 4483 on the prosecution of public officials (Law 3359 additional art. 18). Staff subject to the Higher Education Law’s own investigation procedure are excluded. The sequence is:

1. Complaint. For negligent injury it must be made within six months (TCK art. 73).
2. Permission to investigate. The Ministry of Health’s Professional Liability Board (Mesleki Sorumluluk Kurulu) decides. The Law 4483 periods apply doubled: 60 days, preliminary examination included, extendable once by up to 30 days (Law 3359 additional art. 18; Law 4483 art. 7).
3. Objection. The doctor may object to a grant of permission, and the complainant or the prosecutor to a refusal, within 10 days of service. The Ankara Regional Administrative Court hears the objection and decides within three months; its decision is final (Law 3359 additional art. 18; Law 4483 art. 9).
4. Investigation. Once permission is final, the file goes to the public prosecutor, who investigates under the ordinary rules (Law 4483 art. 11); see criminal law.

A doctor in a public hospital is not sued personally: the administration pays and keeps a right of recourse (Constitution art. 129). After paying a final judgment, the administration claims the compensation, legal costs included, from the doctor’s compulsory liability insurer, in proportion to the doctor’s fault and within the cover. The Professional Liability Board decides within one year whether to recover from the doctor, and how much, in the light of the doctor’s fault and whether they abused their duty (Law 3359 additional art. 18).

Deadlines in one place

Mistakes that cost patients their claims

• Claiming only from the doctor. For a state hospital, the claim lies against the administration, and the one-year application period runs from learning of the act (Constitution art. 129; İYUK art. 13).
• Counting from when the problem showed. The two-year consumer period runs from treatment, even if the defect appears later (TKHK art. 16).
• Missing the six-month complaint period. A prosecution for negligent injury generally needs a complaint within six months of learning of the act and the person responsible (TCK art. 73, 89).
• Suing a private provider without mediation. Where the consumer court hears the claim, mediation must be tried before the lawsuit (TKHK art. 73/A).
• Filing as if unquantified claims still existed. In new cases a partial claim can be increased only once, before the evidence stage ends (HMK art. 107, 109).

Documents to prepare

• Passport or ID.
• The full hospital file: discharge summary (epikriz), operation notes, consent forms, imaging and test results; e-Nabız printouts.
• The names and titles of those who examined, treated or operated on you.
• Invoices, receipts, the treatment contract or quote, any insurance policy; messages and dated photographs.
• Reports from doctors who treated you later; proof of lost income (payslips, SGK records).
• After a death: the death certificate, the certificate of inheritance (mirasçılık belgesi) and proof of dependency.
• Any application to the administration and its answer; any criminal complaint.