Suing a Hospital in Turkey: Public vs Private Liability

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 the statutes that settle those three questions — Article 129 of the Constitution, the Administrative Procedure Law (Law 2577), the Consumer Protection Law (Law 6502) and the Turkish Code of Obligations — 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 claim below the consumer arbitration threshold in Article 68 goes to the consumer arbitration committee instead.

• 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.

1. 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, decided on the doctor's fault and on whether the doctor abused the duty (Law 3359, Additional Article 18). 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 work largely on the written file — petitions and defences are exchanged in writing under Article 16 of Law 2577 — rather than on 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" means learning of the act by written notice or otherwise (Article 13). When that happened is a question of fact decided on your file; the statute does not tie it to the surgery or to any particular report, so count from the earliest date the administration could argue — and the application is not a step you can add later.

2. Private Hospitals (The "Contract" Regime)

   
   

This category includes privately owned hospitals, clinics, and private medical centers.

The Legal Basis: Breach of Contract

When you are admitted to a private hospital, Turkish doctrine describes the relationship as 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); TBK Article 506 requires faithful and careful performance.

• Hotel Services: Accommodation and food.

• Work Contract: Where a specific result is promised — an argument made for some aesthetic or dental prosthetic work — the rules on contracts for work (Eser Sözleşmesi, TBK Article 470) may apply.

  
  

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)

Article 3 of the Consumer Protection Law (Law 6502) defines a consumer transaction to include contracts of mandate (vekâlet) and work (eser) between a consumer and a business, and Article 73(1) gives the consumer courts jurisdiction over disputes arising from consumer transactions. A patient's claim against a private hospital or clinic is therefore brought there.

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: no mediation report, no case. The main exception is a dispute within the jurisdiction of the consumer arbitration committees (tüketici hakem heyeti): under Article 68, a claim below the annually revalued monetary threshold must go to the committee instead. 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. Claims arising from the mandate element (treatment) carry five years under Article 147(5) of the Turkish Code of Obligations (TBK); Article 146 gives ten where nothing shorter applies. If the claim is framed as a defective work (a promised result), Article 478 sets two years from delivery for works other than buildings, and twenty years where the contractor was grossly at fault. 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. Article 130 of the Constitution lets foundations set up higher-education institutions under State supervision, and Article 3(d) of Law 2547 defines a university as a body with public legal personality. No statute, however, says which courts hear a treatment claim against a foundation university hospital, so the forum — administrative or civil — has to be checked on the facts before filing.

The layer that catches people sits in Additional Article 15 of Law 3359: a foundation university with a medical or dental faculty but no teaching hospital of its own, or one without enough capacity, may cooperate with a private hospital under a protocol (afiliasyon) on separate budgets. The partner hospital is treated as the university's health application and research centre while remaining a private hospital. Under the same article the partner hospital remains subject to its own legislation outside the faculty members' activities and the university's teaching and research functions, so the choice of defendant and court has to be made at the outset: an action against the wrong entity, or in the wrong court, can end without any ruling on 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 a full remedy claim on jurisdiction, and Article 9 lets you file before the administrative court within thirty days of that ruling becoming final, treating the civil filing date as the filing date. A civil court examines the conditions of the action, jurisdiction included, on its own motion at any stage (HMK Article 115).

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.

Without that permission the investigation cannot go ahead, so a complaint made to the police or a prosecutor is first routed through this procedure. 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?

Neither label settles it. Law 2547 defines a university as a body with public legal personality, but no statute says which courts hear a treatment claim against a foundation university hospital, so the forum has to be checked on the facts before filing. A private hospital working under an affiliation protocol with such a university stays subject to its own legislation outside the university's teaching and research functions (Law 3359, Additional Article 15).

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.