The article presents the issue of the superior’s liability for injury caused by subordinates during treatment. The issues raised are analysed primarily through the prism of the case law, using also historical analysis. The practice of judicial application of law in Poland has led to the formation of a line of case law which adopts Article 430 of the Civil Code as the basis for the liability of medical facilities for injury caused by medical doctors. Problems regarding the hospital’s responsibility for a doctor’s activities during diagnosis and treatment date back to the time of the Code of Obligations and the concept of shared liability, which was adopted then. Modern jurisprudence sanctions the position of a medical doctor as a subordinate of a medical facility, despite the doctor’s independence in the practice of the profession. A medical doctor always acts as a subordinate of a medical facility when he/she performs activities “for” or “on behalf of” the medical facility. This practice of applying the law should be considered beneficial for the aggrieved persons who sue the medical facility for compensation, because they are able to obtain it more easily and do not need to demonstrate who among the medical staff has caused their injury.

Dochodzenie przez pacjenta roszczeń związanych ze szkodą doznaną przez niego w toku leczenia napotyka w praktyce liczne trudności, począwszy od tych związanych z udowodnieniem przesłanek odpowiedzialności, na kosztach i długotrwałości procesu skończywszy. W konsekwencji w wielu systemach prawnych na świecie podjęto próby projektowania pozasądowych systemów kompensacyjnych opartych na ubezpieczeniu na rzecz pacjenta albo na funduszu gwarancyjnym mającym zrekompensować doznany przez pacjenta uszczerbek. Celem artykułu jest porównanie najdłużej funkcjonującego systemu typu no-fault, który w Nowej Zelandii w obecnej formie zapewnia naprawienie szkody pacjentom od 1 stycznia 2002 r., oraz działającego od 1 stycznia 2012 r. systemu polskiego. Analiza skupia się na trzech płaszczyznach, tj. konieczności wykazania naruszenia zasad wiedzy medycznej jako przesłanki odpowiedzialności, zakresu definicji zdarzenia medycznego i treatment injury oraz ustalenia kręgu osób posiadających uprawnienie w obu analizowanych systemach do dochodzenia świadczenia odszkodowawczego. Na tym tle sformułowane zostały szczegółowe postulaty de lege ferenda, co do zmiany przepisów ustawy o prawach pacjenta i Rzeczniku Praw Pacjenta dotyczące w szczególności odejścia od konieczności wykazania obiektywnego naruszenia zasad wiedzy medycznej jako przesłanki odpowiedzialności, odejścia od różnicowania szkód powstałych w szpitalach oraz poza nimi, jak i rozszerzenia zakresu definicji zdarzenia medycznego o szkody powstałe w związku z naruszeniem praw pacjenta i szeroko rozumianą profilaktyką leczenia. W artykule proponuje się również rezygnację z ustalenia kręgu podmiotów pośrednio poszkodowanych przez pryzmat posiadania formalnego statusu spadkobiercy na rzecz znanego z przepisów art. 446 § 3 i 4 Kodeksu cywilnego zabiegu polegającego na powiązaniu uprawnienia do dochodzenia świadczenia odszkodowawczego w przypadku śmierci pacjenta z rzeczywistą więzią emocjonalną łączącą zmarłego z wnioskodawcą.

The European Union obliged the member states to introduce monitoring and control tools in order to improve the quality of provided transmission services and to guarantee the contracted amount of energy to end users. However, the EU has left the member states the freedom to create and implement compensation tools, enabling customers to claim their rights arising from non-compliance by transmission companies with the provisions of distribution agreements. The introduction of quantitative energy monitoring and an appropriate compensation mechanism is of great importance not only for end users but also for distribution companies. For end users, this would be a tool to enforce their rights against transmission companies, while transmission companies would gain a tool to control and manage both legal and financial risks. The aim of this study is to analyze discount as an example of a guarantee instrument in the field of the consumer’s right to energy of an adequate quality based on the Polish example supported by a systematic legal review. In the EU, discount is not regulated directly at the EU level; hence, it is impossible to base it on acquis and analyze it through the prism of EU regulation. In Poland, the possibility for recipients to apply for a discount for poor-quality electricity was introduced into the first version of the Energy Law in 1998, long before the adoption of Directive 2019/944 by the EU. The fundamental issues that were addressed and discussed in this paper were as follows: (1) Is the discount compensatory in nature? (2) Should it be included in the compensation due to the consumer? (3) Is it possible to reduce it when the power supply interruption results from circumstances beyond the control of the energy company (e.g., unforeseen weather conditions)?

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One of the most serious problems in proceedings intended to repair personal injury caused while treating a patient is an attempt to reconcile two divergent interests – the interest of the injured party and the interest of the party responsible for repairing said damage. This leads to lengthy lawsuits, escalation of court costs and sometimes to the aggrieved parties’ giving up their pursuit of recompense for the injury caused to them. This is why research and legislative attempts are being taken up throughout the world to aid the aggrieved patient in obtaining compensation. These legislative works and the related comparative research have contributed to the introduction in countries such as New Zealand, Sweden or France of alternative systems of remedying medical injuries. In Poland a system based on 16 commissions for the evaluation of medical incidents has been in operation since 1 January 2012. The Polish system was intended to mirror foreign models which exercised the principle of facilitating the patient in obtaining quick, inexpensive and certain recompense for the injury suffered during medical treatment. The Polish system, despite the legislator’s declarations, has not sufficiently drawn on foreign models. It is unique and completely novel in the world scale, which does not, however, translate into its effectiveness. The aim of this paper is to present to a foreign reader the premises of liability and the proceedings before voivodship commissions for evaluating medical events. This paper intends to demonstrate the main mistakes made by the Polish legislator so that other countries can avoid wrong models during their own legislative works. Moreover, the conclusions present proposals of legislative amendments which would improve the operation and effectiveness of the commissions.