Criminal liability of medical professionals in the São Paulo State Court of Appeals.

Objective To collect criminal justice data involving medical professionals in the São Paulo State Court of Appeals and to establish the number of criminal proceedings involving said professionals, the content of the accusations and the conviction rate per specialty. Methods A keyword search was carried out in the State Appellate Court case law website with the term "medical error" for decisions rendered from January 1st, 2011 to December 31st, 2016, and the subject "criminal law" was selected. Results A total of 34 cases met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. Lower court's convictions accounted to 73.5% of the cases, with a slight tendency towards increase over the years. The number of cases per medical specialty was ten cases of clinical emergency, eight of obstetrics, seven of surgery, three of pediatrics (one case was related to pediatrics and obstetrics), two of orthopedic surgery, two of clinical director, one anesthesiologist and one nonemergency internal medicine physician. Among these cases, 6 were related to bodily injury, 26 to homicide and 2 criminal contempt. Conclusion The physicians most exposed to medical error were from surgical specialties, probably due to the higher rate of complications associated with the procedures, and emergency physicians, professionals who need greater qualification.

Entendimento dos julgados do Tribunal de Justiça do Estado de São Paulo sobre a emissão de atestado médico falso: uma análise jurisprudencial / Understanding of tried cases at the Court of Justice of the State of São Paulo relative to issuing false medical certificates: jurisprudence analysis

Contexto: O atestado médico é um documento de emissão corriqueira na prática médica. O uso desse documento com alterações ou com conteúdo que não seja verdadeiro é tipificado como crime no art. 302 do Código Penal brasileiro, denominado "Falsidade de atestado médico". O Brasil, no entanto, tem uma escassez de dados estatísticos sobre esse crime. Objetivos: Realizar um levantamento de dados acerca da temática dos processos sobre atestado falso na esfera penal no Tribunal de Justiça do Estado de São Paulo. Métodos: Foi realizada uma pesquisa por palavra-chave na área de consulta de julgados de 1ª instância do site do Tribunal de Justiça do Estado de São Paulo, com o descritor "atestado", de julgados sem data determinada. Resultados: Nos anos analisados, apesar do número pequeno de casos, houve uma tendência de crescimento no número de julgados. A maior parte dos réus era de não médicos, do sexo masculino e com infração relacionada ao ambiente de trabalho. Houve um grande quantitativo de condenações em 1ª instância. Conclusão: O estudo apontou para a necessidade de coibição desse crime, sendo a certificação digital uma boa forma de alcançar esse objetivo.

Introduction: Medical certificates are commonly issued in medical practice. Use of medical certificates with alterations or false content is characterized as a crime, denominated "Falsification of medical certificates", by the Brazilian Penal Code article 302. Data on this type of crime are scarce in Brazil. Objective: To collect data relative to criminal lawsuits for falsification of medical certificates filed at the Court of Justice of the State of São Paulo. Methods: A keyword-based search of tried cases with no time limitation was conducted on the trial court database available at the Court of Justice of the State of São Paulo website using the search term "certificate". Results: Although small, the number of tried cases increased along the analyzed years. Most defendants were non-physicians and male and offences had relationship with the workplace. The number of trial court convictions was high. Conclusion: The results point to the need to prevent this type of crime; digital certificates represent a good means to achieve this goal.

Criminal liability of medical professionals in the São Paulo State Court of Appeals / Responsabilização penal do médico no Tribunal de Justiça do Estado de São Paulo

ABSTRACT Objective To collect criminal justice data involving medical professionals in the São Paulo State Court of Appeals and to establish the number of criminal proceedings involving said professionals, the content of the accusations and the conviction rate per specialty. Methods A keyword search was carried out in the State Appellate Court case law website with the term "medical error" for decisions rendered from January 1st, 2011 to December 31st, 2016, and the subject "criminal law" was selected. Results A total of 34 cases met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. Lower court's convictions accounted to 73.5% of the cases, with a slight tendency towards increase over the years. The number of cases per medical specialty was ten cases of clinical emergency, eight of obstetrics, seven of surgery, three of pediatrics (one case was related to pediatrics and obstetrics), two of orthopedic surgery, two of clinical director, one anesthesiologist and one nonemergency internal medicine physician. Among these cases, 6 were related to bodily injury, 26 to homicide and 2 criminal contempt. Conclusion The physicians most exposed to medical error were from surgical specialties, probably due to the higher rate of complications associated with the procedures, and emergency physicians, professionals who need greater qualification.

RESUMO Objetivo Realizar um levantamento de dados na esfera penal envolvendo médicos no Tribunal de Justiça do Estado de São Paulo e estabelecer o número de processos penais que os envolveu, verificando o teor das acusações e a frequência das condenações, levando-se em consideração as especialidades em que eles atuavam. Métodos Foi realizada pesquisa por palavra-chave na área de jurisprudência do site do Tribunal de Justiça do Estado de São Paulo com o termo "medical error" para as decisões proferidas de 1° de janeiro de 2011 até 31 de dezembro de 2016, sendo selecionado o assunto "direito penal". Resultados Foram encontrados e analisados 34 processos que corresponderam ao critério de inclusão. Houve 73,5% de condenação em primeira instância, observando-se discreta tendência de aumento no decorrer dos anos. O número de processos, de acordo com a especialidade médica, foi dez casos de emergência clínica, oito de obstetrícia, sete de cirurgia, três de pediatria (sendo que em um caso se referia a pediatria junto de obstetrícia), dois de ortopedia, dois de diretor clínico, um de anestesista e um de clínico não emergencista. Dentre estes casos, 6 se referiam à lesão corporal, 26 a homicídio e 2 a crime de desobediência. Conclusão Os médicos mais expostos a erros médicos foram os das especialidades cirúrgicas, provavelmente devido ao maior índice de complicações associadas ao procedimento, e os emergencistas, necessitando de uma maior capacitação destes profissionais.