Patients’ Rights Hotline
Working in collaboration with the Society for Patients’ Rights in Israel, we are here to provide counseling about accessing your rights.
Operating hours of the information and support hotline:
Phone number: 03-6022934
Sunday-Thursday 09:00-14:00
You can also receive assistance and support via email:
[email protected]
Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice constitutes a violation of the National Health Insurance Law and is grounds for legal action. A medical malpractice claim can be filed up to seven years from the incurrence of the incident or until the age of 25 for children. In this type of lawsuit, it is possible to sue the professional who provided the care (doctor, nurse, anesthesiologist, etc.) as well as the institution in which it was provided (HMO, hospital).
You should consult with an experienced medical malpractice attorney before beginning the process.
Each of the following cases constitutes medical malpractice:
- Misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose or late diagnosis of problems and diseases.
- Performing actions that are outside the remit of the professional authority.
- Failing to record, incorrectly recording, or partially recording the treatment instructions provided by doctors or the required treatment protocol.
- Negligence in administering medication prescribed by doctors, in terms of type and dosage.
- Failure to supervise the patient: Failure to monitor or negligent monitoring, deterioration of the patient’s health during hospitalization.
If you decide to file a medical malpractice lawsuit, these are the necessary steps:
- Gather the medical materials with the help of your attorney, who will use them to determine suitable grounds for the lawsuit.
- Go to a specialist physician and get an independent second opinion in writing.
- File the lawsuit in the appropriate court (based on the requested sum of damages).
Suing the Ministry of Health (filing a complaint to the ombudsman)
If the physical damage caused by the negligence is small or insignificant, or was significant only for a brief period of time, it is not always advisable to file a malpractice lawsuit in court, as this can take years and involve great expense.
In cases like these, you can file a complaint to the Ministry of Health ombudsman and/or the medical institution where you received the care.
Before filing a complaint to the Ministry of Health ombudsman, you should first file a complaint to the entity that provided the care at the relevant medical institution or HMO. Following are links to the public inquiries departments at the HMOs (Hebrew):
You can file the complaint to the Ministry of Health ombudsman online here (Hebrew), attaching any of the additional documents specified on the website, including:
- Medical documents
- Copies of all correspondence
- Receipts
- Hospitalization discharge document
- Waiver of medical confidentiality
- Power of attorney
- Copy of inheritance order
Handling the complaint may take anywhere from a few days to several months.
Find additional information on the Ministry of Health website.
Diagram of the process of filing the complaint
The following is a diagram from the Ministry of Health website about handling a request to file a complaint to the ombudsman:
Back to Rights
Receiving the complaint
Reviewing the complaint to determine whether the ombudsman has the legal authority to investigate and whether there are grounds for the complaint
Transferring the complaint to an arbitrating attorney
Informing the applicant if there are no grounds for the complaint, no authority to investigate it, or if additional information is required
Investigating the complaint in conjunction with the complainant, the subjects of the complaint, and the relevant professional officials
Making a ruling and notifying the complainants and the subjects of the complaint
