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Medical Malpractice · Turkey

Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Turkey: Compensation When Treatment Goes Wrong

Claims for foreign patients harmed in Turkish hospitals and clinics.

As a Medical malpractice lawyer in Turkey, we act for patients who flew home injured, cannot get their file out of the clinic, and are watching a Turkish limitation period run down from another country.

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On the lists of lawyers published for their nationals by
British Embassy Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Embassy of Canada
Medical malpractice lawyer in Turkey reviewing a foreign patient's hospital records at the Kaymaz Law Firm office in Antalya
Antalya Bar Association, registration no. 9892
Verifiable on the Bar's own register.
Your medical file demanded on day one
The written request under Article 16 of the Patient Rights Regulation goes out the day you instruct us, before a clinic can tidy its notes.
You never have to fly back to Turkey
A power of attorney lets us mediate, file, attend every hearing without you.
02

Can a foreign patient sue a Turkish hospital or clinic?

Quick answer

Yes. Nationality is irrelevant; where the treatment happened decides. Expect twelve to twenty-four months. Cost tracks the sum claimed, because Turkish court fees are a fixed percentage of it.

03

Is This Your Situation?

You are in one country, the evidence is in another

The surgeon, the notes, the consent form and the clinic's insurer are all in Turkey. You are at home with a photograph on your phone and a WhatsApp thread nobody answers. A power of attorney gives us everything a client standing in the room would have.

While you stay at home, we:

  • Demand the full record, including the anaesthesia chart and the consent form you signed
  • Have it read by a Turkish consultant in the same speciality before any court fee is paid
  • Check whether the clinic held a valid health tourism authorisation that day
  • Attend every hearing and send you a written note in English afterwards

Patients Who Come to Us

  • "I flew home four days after the operation and the clinic stopped answering."
  • "They put a Turkish form in front of me an hour before surgery. I still do not know what I signed."
  • "Three crowns failed within five months. The dentist says the guarantee only applies if I fly back."
  • "My father died after routine surgery and nobody will give his children the file."
  • "The result looks nothing like the photographs the clinic sent me."
  • "My surgeon at home says the revision will cost more than I paid in Turkey."
04

What Turkish Law Actually Says

There is no single malpractice act in Turkey. Who treated you, and what they promised, decides the court, the deadline and the burden of proof.
Private hospital or clinic

A mandate contract, judged on care

Article 506 of the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098 measures your doctor against a prudent professional doing similar work. The question is not whether the outcome was bad, but whether the care fell below that line. Because you paid privately, this is a consumer transaction under Law No. 6502: Consumer Court, mediation first, five years to sue under Article 147.
Read Article 506 on mevzuat.gov.tr
Cosmetic and aesthetic surgery

A promised result, not a promise to try

The surgeon sells a specific outcome, so Article 470 treats aesthetic surgery as a contract for work, and Article 475 lets you demand correction, a price reduction, or rescission plus damages. The surgeon owes the promised result, not careful effort, so a materially different outcome is itself the breach. Article 478 gives five years, twenty where the surgeon was grossly at fault.
Read Articles 470 to 478 on mevzuat.gov.tr
State or university hospital

You sue the institution, not the doctor

Here the defendant is the administration, not the doctor. Article 13 of Law No. 2577 makes a written application to the hospital a precondition: within one year of learning of the harm, five of the treatment. The administration has sixty days to reply, silence counts as refusal, and you then have sixty days to file. Investigating public health staff also needs permission from the Professional Liability Board, created by Law No. 7406 in 2022.
Read Article 13 on mevzuat.gov.tr
05

How a Claim Runs, Stage by Stage

Two routes, two rhythms. What we need from you is listed with each stage, because the delay is nearly always a document sitting in an inbox at home.
Private hospital, clinic or dental practice

The Consumer Court Route

1
Secure the record
Article 16 of the Patient Rights Regulation entitles you to a copy of your file. We send that demand on day one, before notes can be amended. From you: passport, clinic name, dates.
2
Power of attorney
Signed at a Turkish consulate, or before a local notary with an apostille, in one to two weeks. It must name medical compensation proceedings; a general power gets refused at the registry.
3
Independent medical opinion
Before filing, a Turkish consultant in the same speciality says whether the care fell below the Article 506 standard. Three to six weeks. From you: your doctor's scans and reports.
4
Compulsory mediation
Article 73/A of Law No. 6502 makes mediation a precondition. The mediator must finish within three weeks of appointment, extendable by one. We attend for you and sign nothing without your instruction.
5
Filing the claim
At the Consumer Court where the clinic sits, or under Article 73 at the court for your own Turkish address. Application fee, a quarter of the proportional fee and the expense advance are paid on filing.
6
Court-appointed expert panel
The court appoints its own experts, usually three university consultants. Article 274 of Law No. 6100 caps them at three months, extendable once. This is where files sit longest, and why a case runs past a year.
7
Objecting to the report
Two weeks from service to challenge the panel under Article 281. A weak report is not the end: a reasoned objection routinely produces a supplementary report or a second panel, and often turns a file around.
8
Judgment, appeal and payment
Either side has two weeks to appeal to the Regional Court. Once final we open enforcement proceedings if payment does not follow. Every doctor carries insurance under Additional Article 12 of Law No. 1219, so an insurer usually pays.
State hospital or university hospital

The Administrative Court Route

1
Written application first
Nothing is filed until you have asked the administration to pay. Article 13 of Law No. 2577 sets one year from learning of the harm, five from the treatment. You are bound by the figure in it.
2
The sixty-day silence
The administration has sixty days to answer. Most say nothing, and silence counts as refusal. That refusal, real or deemed, opens the courthouse door.
3
Full remedy action
Sixty days from refusal to file at the Administrative Court. It is not extended for a client abroad, which is why the power of attorney must be ready before the silence expires.
4
A file decided on paper
Administrative proceedings are written. There are no hearings as a rule, and the expert report weighs even more than in a civil court. Expect judgment in eighteen to thirty months.
06

Where These Cases Stall

Almost every claim we take over has lost time to one of these six.
  • Waiting for the clinic to come back to you
    Unanswered emails do not pause the five-year clock in Article 147, and they give the clinic time to complete a record that was thin on the day. Demand the file first, negotiate second.
  • Signing the clinic's goodwill refund form
    The offer to return part of what you paid is usually a full release of all claims, drafted in Turkish. Once signed it is enforceable, and the revision becomes your problem.
  • Ignoring the consent form
    Consent given without real information is not consent, and a form in a language you do not read, signed on the trolley, is one of the most productive lines of attack.
  • Filing in the wrong court
    A university hospital looks private from the outside and is not. A consumer claim against one costs the fee, the advance and the months in between, while the Article 13 deadline runs on.
  • Building the case on WhatsApp screenshots
    Messages from the clinic's sales agent prove what you were promised, which matters in an aesthetic claim. They prove nothing about theatre: without the operating note, a panel has nothing to review.
07

What a Claim Costs

Two things get confused here: what the state charges to run your case, fixed by law, and what a lawyer charges, agreed in writing beforehand.
Paid to the court, not to us
Application fee
Fixed sum, reset each January
Proportional judgment fee
68.31 per thousand of the sum claimed
Paid up front
One quarter of that fee, at filing
Expense advance
Annual tariff; funds the expert panel
Paid to third parties
Power of attorney
Consulate or local notary, plus apostille
Sworn translation
Per page, for every foreign document filed
Private medical opinion
One consultant, before filing
Mediation fee
Ministry tariff, shared if the case settles
How our fee is structured
Standard arrangement
Fixed fee, agreed in writing before we start
No hourly billing
We do not bill by the hour. An hourly total is not predictable, and no client should meet a figure nobody could have quoted at the start.
Statutory floor
The minimum fee tariff set by the Union of Turkish Bar Associations
The minimum attorney fee tariff, published each year in the Official Gazette by the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, is the legal floor: under Article 164 of Attorneys Act No. 1136 a fee below it is void, any outcome-linked element is capped at 25 per cent of the case value, and the agreement must be written. See our guide to lawyer costs in Turkey.

Want the figure before you commit?

Send the treatment dates, the clinic name and what your own doctor says now. We come back with the route, your deadline, and a written fee for the case.
Book a Legal Consultation
08

Questions Patients Ask Us

The questions that arrive most often by email.
Can I sue a doctor in Turkey if I live abroad?
Yes. Turkish courts do not require a claimant to be resident or present in Turkey. You sign a power of attorney. Your lawyer then files, mediates, attends hearings and collects the award for you.
How long do I have to make a medical negligence claim in Turkey?
Against a private clinic, five years under Article 147 of Law No. 6098. For cosmetic surgery, five years from delivery under Article 478, twenty where the surgeon was grossly at fault. Against a state hospital, one year from learning of the harm to apply to the administration.
How much compensation can I get for medical malpractice in Turkey?
There is no tariff and no cap. Article 54 covers treatment and revision costs, lost earnings and reduced earning capacity; Article 53 covers funeral costs and loss of support in fatal cases; Article 56 covers non-pecuniary damages. The figure follows the court-appointed expert report, so a documented revision quote from your surgeon carries real weight.
Which court hears a medical negligence claim in Turkey?
Treatment at a private hospital, clinic or dental practice is a consumer transaction under Law No. 6502, so a Consumer Court. A state or university hospital goes to an Administrative Court, and only after the written application under Article 13 of Law No. 2577.
The clinic made me sign something before I was discharged. Is my claim finished?
Not necessarily. A release signed without informed consent, in a language you do not read, or covering damage that had not yet appeared, is open to challenge. Send it to us before you assume it binds you, and never sign a refund offer with a waiver attached.
How long does a medical malpractice case take in Turkey?
Twelve to twenty-four months to a first-instance judgment in the Consumer Court, eighteen to thirty in the Administrative Court. The court-appointed panel is the reason: Article 274 of Law No. 6100 allows it three months, extendable by three more, and a second panel restarts that clock.
Can I claim if my surgery was cosmetic rather than medically necessary?
Yes, and your position is usually stronger. Turkish courts treat aesthetic surgery as a contract for work under Article 470 of Law No. 6098, because a specific result is sold. Under Article 475 you can demand correction, a price reduction, or rescission with damages, without proving carelessness in theatre.
Do you work in English, and where are you based?
We are an English-speaking law firm in Antalya, registered with the Antalya Bar Association under number 9892, acting on treatment given in Turkey. Correspondence and hearing notes reach you in English; only documents filed at court are in Turkish, as the law requires.
legal and medical symbols representing medical negligence claims prepared by Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Turkey

Speak to a Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Turkey

Tell us the clinic, the treatment date and what has happened since. We will tell you which court, which deadline and what it costs.
Talk to a Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Turkey Book a Legal Consultation
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