Compensation in medicine: national and foreign experience

Author information:

Nataliia Korobtsova
PhD in Law, Associate Professor Associate Professor of the Department of Civil Law Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9997-1485

Published: 15.04.2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.69724/2786-8834-2026-9-2-72-87

Keywords: non-property losses, defects in medical services, moral damage, patient rights, rights of the provider of medical services

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Обкладинка. 9-й випуск

Abstract

The relevance of the topic chosen for the study lies in the fact that today there is no clear understanding of the term “compensation” in law. Even within the framework of one legal branch, there is no unified approach to it. Thus, the Civil Code of Ukraine (hereinafter referred to as the Civil Code of Ukraine), using this term for individual legal relations, includes in it a different meaning. Quite often this happens by identifying “compensation” with “reimbursement”, “restoration of the violated position of a person”, a certain “settlement” and a separate “measure of liability”, etc. Such an approach can also be observed in the field of medical services. The lack of a common vision of “compensation” gives rise to many doctrinal problems. The cases analyzed in the study indicate that there is no unity of view on compensation in both national and international judicial practice. The purpose of this article is to study individual issues of compensation in the field of medical legal relations, wherever the general compensation mechanism of civil law operates. The author looked at compensation everywhere through the prism of “justice”, understanding it as a mechanism for its restoration, capable of ensuring a “balance of interests” of participants in medical legal relations. This is exactly the meaning of compensation (“compensatio”) in the times of Ancient Rome and it is this content, in the author’s opinion, that should be the basis of its single general modern understanding. This allows us to conclude that in the field of medical services, not every violated right is subject to compensation, but only that which is capable of restoration. The main problems that arise in national and judicial practice when resolving issues of compensation for harm caused are considered and analyzed. Special attention is focused on the study of the legislation of foreign countries in determining the criteria and principles for assessing non-property losses of a person. Taking into account socio-economic and legal factors, the existing methods of calculating compensation amounts for individual medical offenses are analyzed.

How to Cite

In accordance with DSTU 8302:2015:
Коробцова Н. Компенсація в медицині: національний та зарубіжний досвід. Цивілістична платформа. 2026. № 2 (9). С. 72-87. https://doi.org/10.69724/2786-8834-2026-9-2-72-87

According to the international style of APA:
Korobtsova, N. (2026) Compensation in medicine: national and foreign experience. С. P. Journal, 2 (9). https://doi.org/10.69724/2786-8834-2026-9-2-72-87 [in Ukrainian].

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