Determining the causal link in negligent causing death to a patient by medical personnel

Introduction. The doctrine of causality is of great importance for substantiating the criminal liability of a number of persons for committing a crime. This research considers the problem of establishing a causal link between defects in providing medical aid, found in the acts of medical personnel, and the death of a patient. The purpose of the research is to study the criminal-legal problems arising in the qualification of iatrogenic crimes committed through reckless complicity. Problem formulation. In law enforcement practice, charges for negligent causing death to a person are brought against the subjects who provided medical aid and committed defects in its rendering. It is not always taken into account that these defects are not causally related to the patient’s death. Methodology. In the process of research the following methods were applied: analysis, synthesis, deduction, induction, systemic, comparative-legal, formal-legal, logical. The research is based on the dialectical method of cognition of social processes and the method of system-structural analysis. Results. The author presents the concept of negligent causation of harm, defines and identifies its features, reveals the essence of the criminal-legal institute under consideration, analyses judicial and investigative practice and presents the author’s classification of types of negligent causation. The author justifies that no theory of causal link does not fully satisfy the needs of law enforcers, including the qualification of acts of medical personnel in cases of negligent causation of harm. The author concludes that the impact of each such defect is different in relation to the consequences.