Cuesta Law Office partner Britta Oltjer and attorney-at-law Hanne-Loore Mööl successfully represented the patient’s heirs in a dispute with Rakvere Hospital in court. On March 8, 2021, the Supreme Court did not accept the cassation appeal of Rakvere Hospital. As a result, the decision of Tartu Circuit Court, in which the court established a medical error and a violation of the obligation to document and ordered the damage caused by the hospital, entered into force. The circuit court ordered the hospital to pay non-pecuniary damages as well as pecuniary damages and default interest to the heirs.
The circuit court found that the hospital did not do everything in its power to prevent the patient’s health from deteriorating or the disease from getting worse. The court emphasized that the healthcare provider has a duty to do everything in it can to reduce the patient’s suffering. The court acknowledged that if a healthcare provider breaches the duty of care in the performance of a contract, fails to carry out the necessary analyses, does not monitor the patient with due diligence and does not alleviate his suffering in a manner consistent with the required care and thereby harms the patient, the damages are foreseeable for healthcare providers and they are subject to compensation.
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