Doctor's Responsibility in the Iranian Legal System according to the Principles of the Islamic Penal Code Adopted in 2013

The medical treatments carried out by a doctor are studied from criminal and civil perspectives. These surgical and medical conducts will not be considered to be crimes if they meet the conditions adopted in article 158 of Iran's Islamic penal code. As for civil liability, despite the fact that this issue is one of the doctors' important civil responsibilities, there is no special rule in civil law and civil liability law. These rules are silent about it. In articles 495-497 of Islamic penal code, medical responsibility is recognized among the manifestations of negligence-based responsibilities. That is because in Islamic penal code approved in 1991 doctor's responsibility is considered to be among the manifestations of absolute (pure) responsibility. Therefore, in the Islamic penal code approved in 2013, the legislator has left his former position and principle which was based on the widely-held opinion of jurists and, in a praiseworthy action, adopted a less known legal position. In this study, doctor's civil and criminal liabilities are studied in Iran's legal system with a view to the new Islamic penal code.