A complaint against a laboratory assistant is an official document that establishes the patient's requirements and describes the essence of such requirements. According to article 4 Federal law "On the Procedure for Considering Applications of Citizens of the Russian Federation" a complaint- a request from a citizen for the restoration or protection of his violated rights, freedoms or legitimate interests, or the rights, freedoms or legitimate interests of others. Responding to a written complaint is mandatory for authorities and organizations. In addition, the consideration of the complaint must be carried out in full accordance with the procedures and terms established by this federal law.
We offer our sample of a complaint, in which we tried to take into account all typical situations. You can correct and supplement the specified sample - the complaint does not have a mandatory prescribed form.
Before writing and filing a complaint against a laboratory assistant recommend you:
- get free legal advice on patient rights, which will save your time;
- familiarize yourself with the following materials of our resource: how to write a complaint correctly and how to file a complaint correctly.
Sample Complaint to a Laboratory Assistant
To the chief physician of a state (municipal (private) health care institution (name) (address)
Ministry of Health (name of the executive authority of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation with powers in the field of health protection) (address)
Prosecutor's Office (name of the subject of the Russian Federation) (address)
Territorial body of the Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare for (name of the subject of the Russian Federation) (address)
from Surname First name Patronymic, address of residence
(for example: Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich, Moscow, Moskovskaya st., 134, apt. 35)
Complaint against a laboratory assistant
I, Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich (indicate your last name, first name and patronymic - the latter if available), on September 25, 2017 (indicate the exact date of the event) felt unwell, namely (indicate the specific symptoms of the disease) and decided that I would need a laboratory assistant.
This circumstance served as the basis for my appeal to a medical healthcare institution (indicate the type of medical institution and its name, for example, city polyclinic No. 9) to provide me with medical assistance.
At the same time, the following unlawful actions (inaction) were taken in the said institution against me, namely (choose the one you need, in addition, add a detailed description of the situation to your complaint and attach evidence):
- I was denied the provision of medical services for the following reason (describe the situation and the reason for the denial, for example, “after finding out that I applied to the place of temporary stay, I was denied medical assistance”, etc.);
- I was provided with poor quality medical service;
- medical assistance was provided out of time;
- I was misdiagnosed;
- the laboratory assistant refused to admit the patient;
the doctor was negligent; - I was not prescribed therapy correctly;
- after taking a laboratory assistant, health deteriorated;
- had to incur excessive financial costs;
- the doctor treated me rudely;
- laboratory assistant violated medical confidentiality
In accordance with Article 4 of the Federal Law "On the Fundamentals of Health Protection of Citizens in the Russian Federation", the main principles of health protection are: observance of the rights of citizens in the field of health protection and provision of state guarantees related to these rights; priority of the patient's interests in the provision of medical care; availability and quality of medical care; inadmissibility of refusal to provide medical care; the priority of prevention in the field of health protection; observance of medical confidentiality.
Based on the above, please(choose the one you want):
- take action in relation to the laboratory assistant (indicate the surname, name and patronymic of the laboratory assistant),
- reimburse me for the costs incurred,
- correct the situation.
Date, personal signature of the person filing the complaint against the laboratory assistant
For consumers in the service sector, there is now a very large selection. In addition to municipal medical institutions and diagnostic laboratories, there are private clinics and diagnostic centers. Practically in any private laboratory or city polyclinic where self-financing exists, you can take tests and get a medical opinion for a certain fee. In the presence of a medical policy, services of this kind are provided in municipal institutions free of charge.
Is there a risk of fraud when taking tests?
Regardless of whether it is a municipal or private clinic, laboratory, medical center, the possibility of deception in the delivery of tests exists.
There are several options for this kind of deception:
- When taking tests, the medical worker, due to his own carelessness, confused the biomaterial. As a result, someone else's biomaterial was included in the study. Ultimately, the patient will receive information about other people's indicators. An employee of the laboratory who directly conducts the research can also make such a mistake.
- The biomaterial obtained for the study was lost due to some circumstances due to the fault of the employees of the medical institution, and other people's tests got into the study.
- When entering the analysis data into a computer program and typing, mistakes were made in the direction of decreasing or increasing biochemical parameters in the analyzes.
- The study was conducted in bad faith and does not contain true data.
As a rule, almost all actions lead to the same result - when passing the tests, they gave incorrect data.
What to do if incorrect data were given during the tests?
When considering the problem through the human factor, it seems that nothing terrible happened. A situation that occurs quite often in life. And who in this life is not mistaken.
But in the case of medicine, it is important to understand that we are talking about the most important thing - human life and health. Under such circumstances, a client of a medical institution wastes time, often money. Well, if suddenly we are talking about a sick person, then time may in this case be worth its weight in gold.
How to restore your violated rights?
First, you need to analyze the circumstances, examining the details: what documents are available that confirm the delivery of tests, payment, visit to the organization and finally talking about the error.
To more clearly understand your next steps, the most correct decision would be to seek legal assistance in a medical dispute. A qualified lawyer will explain the legal nature of the actions of employees of a medical institution, the procedure for restoring violated rights and the boundaries of responsibility of doctors.
Correctly and timely provided legal assistance in a medical dispute is already almost 1/3 of the solution to the problem.
If there is no desire to raise a scandal, and there is free time for repeated tests, you can offer the medical staff and the administration of the medical diagnostic institution an alternative. For example, free delivery of repeated tests with taking biomaterial out of turn. Or an accelerated research with the issuance of results in the shortest possible time. More often than not, in order not to make a fuss, offenders go to meet their client.
Each case is individual, and the person who applies for the service decides for himself how antisocial and dangerous for the health and life of a person, the doctors committed a legal offense and how important it is for him to bring the doctors, hospital, clinic to justice.
What are the consequences for the medical staff in this case?
When deciding how to bring doctors, a hospital, a clinic to justice, the degree of negativity of the consequences that entailed the erroneous test results given to the patient will be important. Whether for this reason, circumstances have arisen that worsened the patient's state of health. For example, an erroneous analysis of the body's susceptibility to a certain chemical or drug, when used, can lead to undesirable negative consequences.
In any case, the medical staff and the administration of the medical institution are responsible. The nature of their actions and the legal analysis of the situation makes it possible to decide what kind of responsibility they are talking about. For example, about civil, administrative or criminal.
Within the framework of their job descriptions, employees of a medical institution can be punished in accordance with the norms of Labor Law and in the field of health care.
The administration of a medical institution can be prosecuted for violation of administrative legislation.
If the client goes to court with claims for compensation for material and moral damage, then we are talking about civil liability.
With serious consequences that have caused damage to the life and health of the patient, the question often arises of bringing employees of a medical organization and management to criminal liability.
In this case, constitutional human rights are also violated, for example, the right to life.
It is rather difficult to solve such a problem on your own, and in any case, the right solution would be to contact a lawyer to resolve such disputes.
It is important to understand that the medical staff of any medical institution is responsible for the health and life of the person who comes to the appointment. They are obliged to comply with ethics, and their job descriptions, regulations governing healthcare in Russia.
When visiting paid and municipal hospitals, clinics and laboratories, you must be vigilant and careful. Read the tags on containers with biomaterial, carefully study the documents that are given for signature. If you find any fraud on the part of a medical professional, contact the administration of this organization with a claim. Asking questions when in doubt.
Important! For all questions of a medical dispute, if you do not know what to do and where to go:
Call 8-800-777-32-63.
Medical attorneys, and attorneys who are registered for Russian Legal Portal, will try to help you from a practical point of view in this matter and will advise you on all issues of interest.
Can the results of such analyzes be trusted? And if not, what to do? Doctor and blogger Tatyana Tikhomirova collected the most vivid statements on this matter and accompanied them with an exhaustive commentary.
Yes, it's convenient, but ...
Yes, now there is a decent number of companies that have a lot of analysis material on their website in a form accessible to a layman. You can choose what you want to test for yourself, and then even interpret the results yourself with the help of laboratory interpretations. It is convenient, albeit not cheap. At the same time, you donate blood without sitting from eight in the morning for a couple of hours in a terrible line at the district clinic and not rude laboratory assistants, but sitting on a soft sofa in a clean office with a TV, and even then for a couple of minutes. Or even without leaving home. And at a convenient time for you. And the tests are sent to you wherever you want, and you do not need to go to the clinic for them again. Naturally, a lot of people use this, demand creates supply, the number of firms is growing. And it would be all just great if Russia had at least some kind of analysis quality control system.
But nobody controls anything
But there is no such system in Russia. It may exist somewhere on paper, but in reality it does not exist in any form. External blind control: control samples with previously known results are sent to the incognito laboratory. Laba gives an answer, if it is incorrect, then the license for this analysis is withdrawn, the laboratory pays a fine and is obliged to re-obtain permission to do it, as well as provide information on what was the reason for the error and what measures were taken. And it is also obliged to find and notify all clients in its database that the analysis was done incorrectly, and return the money to them. External open control: samples are sent to the laboratory, but laboratory workers know that they are control, they do not know only the answers. They do an analysis, send them away, the consequences are the same. Worse, the "streaming" samples can be made as usual, and the "control" ones - of the highest quality and strictly according to the rules. As in a confectionery factory, there is a concept of “making a cake for our own people”, and the result is very different from other cakes. But there is not even such control anywhere.
Internal quality control. The principle is the same, but the personnel responsible for the control themselves send control samples for analysis, at different intervals, blindly and openly. They give a hat inside the laboratory, no one takes the license. This is all in theory. The practice looks differently: if the head of the lab is interested in quality, somehow and here and there internal control is done. If not, which happens much more often, nothing is done.
Why it is useless to sue and seek the truth in other ways
For the same reason that there is no control system. You have two analyzes on your hands: according to one, you are healthy, according to the other, you are sick. Let's say anemia. There is a clinic for anemia, so the laba is wrong, who gave the result "all ok". In theory, in another country and in a different scenario, the situation would develop like this: you file a complaint with a higher authority responsible for control. He asks for a duplicate of your blood from the "wrong" lab, or rather you take it yourself (and they are obliged to give it out without any explanation). A duplicate of the same sample, where "everything is ok", is transferred to another lab, usually certified as a quality sample for this analysis, it makes its own conclusion, the caps fly. But in Russia there are no labs whose answer is regarded as exemplary, as true. Therefore, no matter what nonsense they write to you as an answer, no one, anywhere and in any way, can prove that nonsense is in a lab, where anemia was not found, but the truth is in a lab where it is.
If you are trying to find the truth simply by presenting analyzes from another lab, these attempts are even more pitiful and useless. Well, they will take from you, let's say even for free, blood again, well, will they do it normally or draw what you want, will it change something? No. Will Labe get something for this? No, because for some reason? And how can you prove it?
We have imported reagents and devices, so we have everything ok?
Further. Why the risk of getting canine nonsense instead of answering the test is now extremely high, wherever you donate your blood. For any analysis, reagents are consumed, I will not open America here. But there are two setups that people outside the lab don't know about. The first is that if the laboratory has really purchased very high-quality instruments and reagents, it is expensive to work on them. So expensive that the price of consumables can overlap the final price of the analysis, and it will be unprofitable, at a loss. If you raise the price to a reasonable price, all customers will go to competitors. Therefore, it is necessary to align the price with the market. In this case, the only honest way not to work at a loss is to exclude high-cost analyzes from the list (some do this, but this also loses customers). There is also a second honest way - to increase the batch of patient samples for one set, that is, to put not two samples for analysis, but 20. Then the controls (they are used within the analysis) will be the same, but the cost of analysis will fall by about 10-15 times ... But how do you get 20 people into the lab at the same time who want to get tested for Rocky Mountain Fever? Not if you are not a lab of a large center, where such patients are in abundance. Samples can be stored, preserved and frozen, until a batch is accumulated, ensuring analysis is not at a loss. But then the patients run away. They don't care about the lab's difficulties, they need quick answers, not two weeks later. And they can be understood.
Therefore, other methods are used to reduce the cost of analysis. For example, you can set controls not every time, but after one or two, build a control curve not by five points, as stated in the instructions, but by three. You can replace the branded buffer, which costs 10 bucks per bottle, with a similar one near Moscow, which costs 50 rubles per bucket. Or mix it yourself using basement salts. You can reduce the amount of reagents 2-3 times by dropping into the test tube not the prescribed 50 microliters, but a barely visible pisyun. You can cut the test strips into 2-3 pieces lengthwise. And for analyzes, of which there are a lot, in which negative answers are flowing, you can apply the "bucket" method. In this case, all samples are mixed in one tube and the analysis is set as if it were one sample. There will be a plus on it - we put all of them separately for the second time, looking for who is positive out of them. And more often than not, everything is a minus, and we have saved 10 reagents for analyzes.
There are a lot of such tricks. And all these tricks would not be a problem if there was quality control, at least internal. When, having come up with an economical trick, you first prove that it really does not degrade the quality of the analysis, and then make sure that it does not deteriorate further, and also beware of the punishment in the form of external quality control from above. But, as I said, there is no quality control in any form. Therefore, any trick to reduce the cost of analysis is tested only if it worries someone, but he does not often care. And I don’t mean to say that evil lab rats deliberately get along. Not at all. It's just that the theory of how to save money on analyzes, as well as the physics and chemistry of the process, is not taught either in medical schools, or even in refresher courses. In my practice, I have come across such enchanting methods of reducing the cost that the hair stood on end. But to my question: it’s impossible because and because the lab workers made huge eyes: “Yes-ah-ah-ah ?! Ra-a-a-azve ?! But everyone does this, and nothing! "
Therefore, I will upset you with a simple conclusion: no imported machines, reagents or kits are a guarantee of quality simply because working on them strictly according to the instructions is at a loss, you cannot raise prices, and almost no one knows how to save competently.
We have very high quality Russian reagents, here are 20 diplomas and 10 medals for them!
Is it possible to solve the problem using cheap Russian instruments and reagents? Of course, you can, because the classic car "Zhiguli" drives, right? Absolutely the same in laboratory work: all Russian reagents, reagents, all kits are licked off. All devices are licked and outdated. After licking, they often go under the articles "advanced technologies that have no analogues "and" support of a domestic manufacturer "and receive all their diplomas and medals. it has no analogues, remember? Or this test is passed ... well, making a cake "for their own".
Further it gets worse. Just like in the auto industry, the Russian government is extremely concerned about supporting everything Russian. Therefore, many labs in state institutions have been delivered, excuse me, with cancer. Even if you do commercial analyzes and get your own money for them, you cannot use this money to buy normal imported reagents and equipment in the lab. Because there is a tender, according to which there is “exactly the same quality” (and cheaper) analogue of the Red Banner Mukhosran plant on sale. And you are obliged to buy what is the same, but cheaper. The quality is confirmed by diplomas, medals and recommendations from above. Some get out of this situation, some don't. Sometimes you read with horror an article in the newspaper that an advanced device or reagent was again made in the Red Banner Mukhosran. That means you can't order a khan anymore.
Conclusion: analyzes are a lottery. And you don't know the chance to win
Let me emphasize right away. There are simple tests, there are old tests. A clinical blood test, blood biochemistry, a general urine test - this is the set with which the probability of flying over and getting nonsense in response is the lowest. These are new Lada cars on a flat dry road at a speed of 5 km per hour. These analyzes are cheap, they take at least 50 years, the reagents for them are usually simple and cheap, and the probability of error is relatively small. But even here there is a danger, since recently, even in the most dry outpatient clinic, a clinical blood test has begun to be performed not in the form of a laboratory assistant - a glass - a microscope, but on an automatic device. The biochemistry of blood has also changed, now there are devices that give all the necessary answers one by one with a drop of blood. Fast but expensive. And that is why now the amount of crap in these analyzes is growing at a terrible rate, since people in labs are trying new ways to reduce the cost of working on miracle devices. Therefore, if you were given an answer on clinical blood on a dry yellow form filled with crooked hands and a pen, press it to your heart, it is more real and truthful than the printout in the form of "WB 0.02" on the check.
The rest: PCR, allergy tests, tests for infections, immunoblot, "immune status", tumor markers and markers of everything in the world and all the rest of the "fresh" - analyzes of a high risk group. It is on them that they train to hone the technique of saving.
What can I do?
It's trite: to go to the doctor. Look for a good doctor. And when you find it, grab it with a stranglehold, feed it, please and never lose. And not because the doctor is very good. But because he has a lot of patients. And he, unlike you, has statistics on analyzes. That is, he sees the clinic, sees the answers of the laboratory and knows in dynamics and in a group of examples, where they do it, and where everything is normal. A good doctor often directs the patient to donate blood to 2-3 different places. Because in lab A they do analysis 1 and 2 well, but they screw up on 3 and 4, and in lab B - 3 is fine. Laba I is far away and works very inconveniently, but they don't let me get on with the analysis 4. You don't know all this, and you can't collect such statistics yourself. In addition, the doctor, unlike you, knows such a thing as mutually exclusive tests. That is, when answering "A" there are no such and such numbers in the analysis "B". You do not know this and will not even notice.
And therefore, do not be surprised that, having come to the doctor with a pack of tests, you will hear that you need to retake everything, and he will tell you exactly where. Now you know why. And by the way, I will make a reservation: doctors in state medical institutions are sometimes obliged to send tests only to their “native” lab, even knowing that they are doing nonsense there. And they cannot tell you about it, otherwise they will get a hat. Therefore, it is worth clarifying this question on your own in the form: “Doctor, I will hand over the tests to the lab of your institution. But you know, I'm so paranoid, I want to be sure, you won't tell me where else I can take the same analysis? Just for myself, doctor. "
I don’t want to see a doctor!
Do you have money? Well, then I will tell you one more or less reasonable way: donate blood in 2-3 different places for the same thing. Compare the answers. Donate the same blood under different names (required!) To the same lab, compare the answers. Draw your own conclusions, where the answers agree and where they don't. But this method works only in the case of "digital" answers, and not in the case of "no, not found" to rule out a rare disease. But better than nothing.
And never draw conclusions about the quality of a lab based on the fact that your friend had everything ok there. Because he could do some analyzes, which are really ok there, and you need others. Or because there is such a thing - statistics, and one case does not form it.
Every year in Russia, thousands of laboratories perform billions of analyzes. But is there any guarantee that results your laboratory research true?
Errors are different: from incorrectly determined to incorrect interpretation of cytological material. Only mistakes that have entailed very serious consequences are made public. For example, a 33-year-old woman, as a result of a laboratory assistant's error, was not found to have a malignant tumor at an early stage, although she did all the studies recommended by the doctor. She calmed down, but when the tumor was discovered, it was too late ...
Most mistakes, fortunately, do not have any serious consequences. You may not even guess the error. For example, if your hemoglobin level is low, you simply include iron-rich foods and iron supplements in your diet, and re-shows that hemoglobin is normal. But even if the result of the first analysis was wrong, you just ate excess "iron".
Where do mistakes lie in wait?
A laboratory study consists of three parts: preanalytical(from the preparation of the patient to the moment the biomaterial enters the work), in fact analytical and post-analytical(from the moment the material leaves the device to the delivery of the results to the patient). And at each of these stages, a mistake can occur.
1. Error can be laid down already at the beginning, at registration research order. This stage accounts for more than half of all errors. The nurse may misspell or misspelled the patient's name, confuse directions for tests or test tubes.
2. Error can happen directly during the analysis. In laboratories using outdated research methods, the likelihood of such errors is higher. They do not involve the use of disposable laboratory glassware; many operations are performed manually. But in equipped with modern devices laboratories, the probability of errors in research is practically excluded.
3. Error possible when interpreting research of cytological and histological materials. In these cases, exclusively expert examination is used, that is, the doctor examines the material under a microscope. There is a possibility that he will not "see" certain changes in the cells or tissues of the patient or will misinterpret them.
4. The culprits of mistakes I can be glitches in the operation of devices.
5. There is the probability of transfer of microscopic particles of biomaterial from one sample to another, although it is very small.
How to protect yourself?
Only undergo laboratory testing at a public health facility or commercial laboratory that is licensed to practice medicine. If it is not framed in the front desk, ask to see it. About the high quality of work institution is evidenced by its long-term presence in the medical services market .
Feel free to check if the nurse spelled your last name, initials, date of birth correctly. Make sure that it is your surname and first name, identification number or unique barcode have been applied to your vial.
If research were carried out within clinical examination or, for example, to obtain a medical certificate, and the results showed deviations from the norm, you should consult a doctor. He will assess how significant these deviations are, and will send them for repeated studies in seven to ten days. If deviations are recorded again, he will order in-depth studies.
If you have found Clinical signs one or another diseases, and laboratory studies do not confirm this, then you can individually re-conduct the study from the same material.
A special case - histological and cytological examinations requiring expert judgment. In some materials, two doctors investigate, in others - one doctor, but all complex and doubtful cases are sent for versioning to a medical institution with which the laboratory has an agreement.
If a positive result is found for such socially significant infections as HIV or hepatitis, the laboratory, according to the current legislation, is obliged to conduct a confirmation test from the same material. The patient should be informed of the research results only after a definitively confirmed response has been received.
Our expert Elena Anatolyevna Kondrashova, director of the technological department of the INVITRO laboratory:
Most of the mistakes happen when placing an order for research. Automating this process can reduce these kinds of errors to almost zero. At this stage, a laboratory employee forms an order and assigns unique barcode. All data about the client is entered immediately in his presence to the information system... Barcode is glued to the test tube and with this test tube the client goes to the treatment room. In the future, the test tube is delivered to all devices with this barcode. Modern equipment allows in 99% of cases to use "Primary tube", i.e. biomaterial, for example blood, is not transfused from one large tube, as it was before, into several small ones. Everything is automated: the tube "moves" in the device from one analyzer to another that reads barcode... Thus, it is no longer possible to confuse the initially correctly designed test tubes.
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