Obstruction in providing medical care (art. 1241 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) - issues of interpretation and law enforcement
The authors analyze a novel piece of legislation introduced less than a year ago into the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which establishes responsibility for obstructing the legal activity of medical workers in providing medical care. The authors tried to identify and analyze some problems associated with the key features of the new corpus delicti, such as actus reus and implementation of the principle of subjective imputation in terms of the defendant’s foresight of socially dangerous consequences. Construction of the new corpus delicti as a material offence will inevitably create difficulties in the law enforcement practice which also calls for establishing a causal link between the obstruction of the activity of medical officers in a medical care providing and the socially dangerous consequences that have caused serious harm to the health or resulted in the death of the victim. The work contains conclusions about the need to clarify the disposition of the provisions of Article 1241 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in terms of defining specific forms of medical care, such as medical emergency, the obstruction of which should be criminally punishable. The authors’ point of view is to establish in the corpus delicti that is included in Article 1241 of the Criminal Code not only a causal link between the onset of consequences, stipulated in the Criminal Code and the act, but also the reference to the circumstances that indicate the willful negligence of the guilty person with regard to socially dangerous consequences.