Litigation & Disputes
Suing a Hospital in Turkey: Public vs Private Liability
Medical malpractice in Turkey is not one-size-fits-all. Learn why suing a public hospital differs from a private clinic and which court to file in.
In many legal systems, medical malpractice is treated uniformly regardless of where the surgery took place. In Turkey, however, the legal landscape is split into two entirely different worlds.
If you suffer a medical injury in Turkey, your first question shouldn't be "Did the doctor mess up?" but rather "Who owns the building?"
The answer determines which court hears your case, who you can name as a defendant, and which statutes of limitation apply. Based on Turkish Supreme Court (Yargıtay) and Council of State (Danıştay) precedents, this guide breaks down the critical differences between suing a Public Institution versus a Private Provider.
Key Takeaways
Ownership decides the forum: state and public university hospitals go to Administrative Courts as a full remedy action (tam yargı davası), private hospitals and clinics to Consumer Courts.
The public route starts with a letter, not a writ: one year from learning of the harm, five years from the act at the outside (Law 2577, Article 13), then sixty days to file.
The private route starts with a mediator. Mediation is a condition of the case under Article 73/A of Law 6502.
A state doctor can never be named personally (Constitution, Article 129/5). A private doctor, the hospital and the insurer can all be named together.
A criminal complaint against a doctor needs investigation permission from the Ministry of Health's Professional Liability Board (Law 3359, Additional Article 18) — except where the doctor is university teaching staff, who stay under the separate procedure of Article 53 of Law 2547.
Public Hospitals (The "Service Fault" Regime)
This category includes State Hospitals (Devlet Hastanesi), Training and Research Hospitals, and Public University Hospitals.
The Legal Basis: "Service Fault" (Hizmet Kusuru)
When a state hospital makes a mistake, it is not viewed merely as a professional error but as a failure of the state to provide a public service. This is known as a Service Fault.
The administration is obligated to organize services correctly, employ qualified staff, and maintain adequate equipment. A failure in any of these areas—whether it's a surgeon's slip of the hand or a lack of sterile equipment—creates liability for the Administration.
You Cannot Sue the Doctor Directly
This is the most shocking distinction for many foreign plaintiffs. Under Article 129/5 of the Turkish Constitution, civil servants (including state doctors) cannot be sued directly for actions performed in the line of duty.
The Defendant: You must file the lawsuit against the relevant Public Administration (e.g., The Ministry of Health or the University Rectorate).
The Mechanism: If the State loses the case and pays you compensation, it has the right of "Recourse" (Rücu) to demand the money back from the doctor if the doctor was personally negligent. But that is an internal matter; your battle is with the State.
The Venue: Administrative Court (İdare Mahkemesi)
These cases are heard in Administrative Courts. These courts operate differently from civil courts—they rely heavily on written submissions and bureaucratic inquiries rather than witness cross-examination in open court.
The Deadline: A Letter Before the Lawsuit
An administrative claim does not open with a writ. Under Article 13 of the Administrative Procedure Law (Law 2577, İYUK), a person harmed by an administrative action must first apply in writing to the administration: within one year of learning of that action, and within five years of the action itself in any event.
The administration then has thirty days to answer, and silence counts as refusal. From service of the refusal, or from the day those thirty days expire, sixty days run to file before an administrative court (Article 7).
"The date you learned" is usually the date of the report that fixed the damage, not the date of the surgery — and the application is not a step you can add later.
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Private Hospitals (The "Contract" Regime)
This category includes privately owned hospitals, clinics, and private medical centers.
The Legal Basis: Breach of Contract
When you walk into a private hospital, Turkish Law views this as entering into a specific type of agreement known as a "Hospital Admission Contract" (Hastaneye Kabul Sözleşmesi).
This is a "mixed" contract that includes:
Medical Treatment: Governed by the "Proxy Contract" (Vekalet) rules, where the doctor promises diligence (not necessarily a cure).
Hotel Services: Accommodation and food.
Work Contract: For specific results like aesthetic surgery or dental prosthetics (governed by Eser Sözleşmesi).
Joint Liability
Unlike the state system, in the private sector, you generally have the right to sue everyone involved. You can file your lawsuit against:
The Doctor (for their personal negligence).
The Hospital (as the employer and service provider).
The Insurance Company (under the doctor's liability policy).
These parties are often "jointly and severally liable," meaning you can potentially collect the full damages from whichever party has the assets.
The Venue: Consumer Court (Tüketici Mahkemesi)
Since the enactment of the Consumer Protection Law, patients are viewed as "consumers" of healthcare. Therefore, malpractice lawsuits against private entities are heard in Consumer Courts. These courts are generally more dynamic than administrative courts and are accustomed to assessing commercial defects and service failures.
Mediation Comes First
Under Article 73/A of Law 6502, applying to a mediator (arabulucu) before filing is a condition of the case in consumer court disputes, and the listed exceptions do not cover a malpractice claim: no mediation report, no case. Article 73(2) cuts your way — claims brought by consumers are exempt from the fees set by the Fees Law (Law 492).
How Long You Actually Have
The period follows the limb of the contract you sue on. The proxy element (treatment) and the work element (a promised result, such as aesthetic or prosthetic work) carry five years under Article 147(5) and (6) of the Turkish Code of Obligations (TBK); Article 146 gives ten where nothing shorter applies. In tort, Article 72 gives two years from learning of both the damage and the person liable and ten from the act, replaced by the longer criminal period where the conduct is also an offence. Work to the shortest.
Foundation University Hospitals and the Affiliation Trap
Foundation universities (vakıf üniversiteleri) charge fees and feel private. Legally they are not: they hold public legal personality under Article 130 of the Constitution and Additional Article 2 of Law 2547, so a claim from treatment there is generally a full remedy action before the administrative courts.
The layer that catches people sits in Additional Article 15 of Law 3359: a foundation university with no teaching hospital of its own may sign an affiliation protocol (afiliasyon) with a private hospital on separate budgets. That hospital carries the university's name at the entrance while remaining a private company. In a 2024 file the patient sued the operating company in a Bakırköy consumer court, was dismissed on jurisdiction, then sued the university rectorate in an Istanbul administrative court; it ended at the Court of Jurisdictional Disputes (Uyuşmazlık Mahkemesi, E.2024/316, K.2024/308, 7 October 2024), which refused the reference because the two actions named different defendants. Two years of procedure, nothing decided about the medicine.
Read the invoice and the consent form, not the sign above the door. If you have already filed in the wrong place, Article 13(2) of Law 2577 spares you the preliminary application where a civil court rejected the claim on jurisdiction — but it gives back no time, and a court raises jurisdiction on its own motion at any stage.
The Criminal Complaint Runs on a Separate Track
Compensation and prosecution are two files. Since 2022, Additional Article 18 of Law 3359 applies Law 4483 — the statute on prosecuting public officials — to doctors, dentists and other health professionals in public and private health institutions and in foundation universities, for acts of examination, diagnosis and treatment. The article carves out one group in its opening words: those subject to the investigation procedure in Article 53 of Law 2547, meaning university teaching staff, for whom the decision belongs to the university under that article and not to the board. For everyone else, investigation permission (soruşturma izni) comes from the Professional Liability Board (Mesleki Sorumluluk Kurulu) at the Ministry of Health. The periods in Article 7 of Law 4483 apply doubled: sixty days to decide, extendable once by thirty. A refusal goes to the Ankara Regional Administrative Court.
No prosecutor can open a file without that permission, so a complaint left at a police station may sit for months. Recourse sits in the same article: the board decides within one year whether the state reclaims from the doctor what it paid you, and where the doctor works at a state university the final decision belongs to the university itself, taken within six months in light of the board's decision.
What to Secure Before Anything Else
Your Own Medical File
Article 16 of the Patient Rights Regulation (Hasta Hakları Yönetmeliği) lets the patient inspect the records about their health and take a copy, directly or through a proxy. Ask for the full set, not a discharge summary: operation and anaesthesia notes, nursing observations, imaging on disc and pathology.
The Consent Form and the Policy Behind It
Article 70 of Law 1219 requires consent for any procedure and written consent for major surgery; since the amendment of 21 July 2025 it may also be taken electronically where identity is properly verified. A generic form signed on the morning of surgery, in a language the patient does not read, is a weakness in the hospital's file. Additional Article 12 makes liability cover compulsory for doctors in public and private practice alike, and that cover is often the collectable part of an award.
Common Questions About Suing a Hospital in Turkey
Can I sue a state doctor directly for malpractice?
No. Article 129/5 of the Constitution allows claims arising from the faults of public officials to be brought only against the administration, subject to its right of recourse. You sue the Ministry of Health or the university rectorate, not the surgeon. Whether the state later reclaims that money from the doctor is for the Professional Liability Board — or, for state university staff, for the university itself — and does not change what you recover.
Which court handles lawsuits against private hospitals?
Consumer Courts. Article 73 of Law 6502 gives them jurisdiction over disputes arising from consumer transactions, and privately purchased treatment is one. Article 73(5) also lets you sue where you live, useful if you were treated away from home.
Are foundation universities considered private or public?
Public, for jurisdiction: they hold public legal personality under Article 130 of the Constitution and Additional Article 2 of Law 2547, so claims go to the administrative courts. The exception is a private hospital merely operating under an affiliation protocol with such a university — a private entity, and a claim for the civil courts.
Who can I sue in a private hospital case?
The doctor for personal fault, the hospital as employer, and the compulsory insurer, together. Naming them jointly avoids a final judgment against a company with nothing left in it.
Do I have to travel to Turkey to sue a hospital?
Usually not. A notarised and apostilled power of attorney lets a Turkish lawyer file, appear and collect your records; you are likelier to be needed for a court-appointed expert examination than for the hearings.
The first decision in a Turkish malpractice file is not a medical one. It is a reading of who the defendant legally is, and that answer fixes the forum, the step you cannot skip and the clock. Our litigation and dispute resolution team can tell you which forum your file belongs in and what date you are working against; how an award is then valued is set out in our guide to calculating malpractice compensation in Turkey.
This guide is general information on Turkish law, not legal advice on your own matter. Rules and practice change; check the position before you act.