Investigating the Position of the Theory of "Liability for the Acts of Others" in the Field of Medicine by Looking at the Expert Opinions of Medical Authorities

Applying the rule of "liability for the acts of others" in the handling of medical malpractice lawsuits has many advantages, including improving the level of supervision of managers over employees in the healthcare system, better achieving the goals of restorative justice, facilitating judicial and expert proceedings, and reducing the defensive approaches in employees. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the feasibility of applying this legal rule in handling medical malpractice lawsuits by looking at the approaches of Mashhad Legal Medicine Organizations and Mashhad Medical Council in applying this rule in issuing expert opinions. After examining the position of liability for the acts of others in jurisprudence, subject law and comparative law, the possibility of generalizing the criteria governing liability for the acts of others to inter-occupational relationships in the medical field was examined and the existing approach of Mashhad Legal Medicine organization and Mashhad Medical Council, Iran were evaluated in this regard by referring to samples of their expert opinions. It was determined that the rule of "liability for the acts of others" has been used in the medical expert opinions of Mashhad in three situations: 1. The ability to attribute the negligence of individuals to the lack of sufficient supervision by superior officials. 2. Assigning the performance of tasks that are within the scope of a person's duties to someone else who does not have the competence to perform that task independently. 3. In a situation where the person in charge of the negligent act is an unknown person among several people, all of whom are employees of the same employer. Applying the rule of "liability for the acts of others" in the medical field, can help the judicial system to improve the level of justice achievement because of its several advantages.