• Tomasz Jurek, Barbara Swiatek, and Radosław Drozd.
• Z katedry Medycyny Sadowej, Zakład Prawa Medycznego, Akademia Medyczna we Wrocławiu. tjurek@forensic.am.wroc.pl
• Arch Med Sadowej Kryminol. 2007 Oct 1; 57 (4): 416-9.

AbstractDeclaration of death is a diagnosis and it has legal consequences. While declaring death, there is a possibility of committing a medical error. The majority of irregularities in declaring an individual dead occur in emergency situations. When a physician declares death, he is released from the professional obligation of saving the individual's life. The studies were based on the results of medico-legal evaluations in criminal cases in medical errors. In case death is erroneously declared, we may face a situation of squandering the chance of saving the life of a human being. Exposure to loss of life or to severe detriment to health are possible charges here, along with failure to offer medical assistance, although a deliberate character of the offence according to article 162 of the Polish penal code renders such a legal qualification dubious in case of medical errors. In both cases verification is needed whether an interest protected by law was still in existence, i.e. whether the individual was still alive when the physician incorrectly declared him dead.

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