Can a Foreign Patient Sue a Turkish Hospital for Medical Negligence?

Yes. A foreign patient may potentially sue a Turkish hospital or pursue other appropriate legal remedies where medical negligence, inadequate informed consent, defective healthcare services or another legally attributable failure causes injury.

Being a British, German, French, Dutch, Belgian, Irish, American, Canadian, Australian, Gulf-state or other foreign national does not prevent a patient from seeking compensation under Turkish law.

This is particularly important because Turkey has become a major destination for international medical treatment.

Foreign patients travel to Turkey for procedures including:

• plastic and cosmetic surgery;
• dental implants and cosmetic dentistry;
• hair transplantation;
• bariatric surgery;
• orthopaedic surgery;
• ophthalmological procedures;
• fertility treatment;
• oncology;
• cardiology;
• general surgery;
• specialist medical treatment.

Most patients may complete their treatment without legal difficulties.

However, where treatment results in permanent injury, an avoidable complication, additional surgery, significant financial loss or death, the patient may need to determine whether the hospital, physician or another healthcare provider can be held legally responsible.

The answer depends on several questions.

Was the hospital private or public?

Was the treatment performed according to accepted medical standards?

Was the patient adequately informed about the procedure and its risks?

Was proper consent obtained?

Was a complication identified and managed correctly?

Did the hospital maintain adequate medical records?

Who actually performed the treatment?

Was a medical tourism intermediary involved?

What financial and physical damage did the patient suffer?

These questions are important because medical negligence cases in Turkey do not all follow the same legal route.

A claim against a private hospital may be dealt with through the civil and, frequently, consumer-law system. A claim arising from treatment at a state hospital may instead fall within administrative jurisdiction.

Understanding this distinction is one of the most important steps before commencing proceedings.

Do Foreign Patients Have the Same Basic Patient Rights in Turkey?

Foreign patients receiving healthcare in Turkey benefit from important protections under Turkish patient-rights legislation.

The Patient Rights Regulation gives patients the right to receive information concerning matters including the nature of treatment, who will perform the intervention, available alternatives and possible complications.

Article 15 specifically requires information on the probable course of the condition, the proposed intervention, alternatives, risks and potential complications. Article 16 allows patients to inspect healthcare records and obtain copies personally or through an authorised representative.

These protections are not merely theoretical.

For an international patient, they can become central to a compensation claim.

For example, a foreign patient may have a significant legal complaint if:

• an operation was performed without adequate explanation;
• a major risk was never disclosed;
• the patient could not understand the consent documents;
• the hospital refuses to provide medical records;
• a different procedure was carried out from the one agreed;
• a complication was ignored or treated too late.

The patient’s nationality does not by itself prevent these issues from being examined by Turkish courts.

What Is Medical Negligence in Turkey?

A poor medical outcome does not automatically mean negligence.

Medicine involves uncertainty.

A patient can experience an adverse result even where the doctor has acted correctly.

The central issue is whether the healthcare provider complied with the professional, contractual and legal standards applicable to the treatment.

Potential examples of medical negligence may include:

• misdiagnosis;
• delayed diagnosis;
• failure to order necessary tests;
• surgical error;
• operating on the wrong site;
• medication error;
• anaesthesia error;
• inappropriate treatment;
• failure to monitor a patient;
• premature discharge;
• failure to identify a developing complication;
• delayed treatment of a complication;
• inadequate postoperative care;
• failure to refer the patient to an appropriate specialist;
• treatment performed by an unauthorised or unqualified person;
• failure to obtain proper informed consent.

A hospital may also face questions concerning organisational negligence.

For example, the problem may not be limited to a single doctor’s conduct. It may arise from inadequate staffing, poor monitoring systems, failures in communication between departments, inadequate records or other institutional failures.

Turkey’s Constitutional Court has expressly recognised the state’s obligation to ensure the effective organisation of healthcare services in both public and private healthcare institutions.

Can You Sue a Private Hospital in Turkey?

Potentially, yes.

Where medical negligence occurs in a private hospital, the patient may be able to pursue compensation against the hospital company, the treating physician or other responsible persons depending upon the legal and factual structure.

The relationship between a private hospital and patient commonly has a contractual dimension.

Depending on the circumstances, Turkish consumer law may also apply.

This is important because private healthcare services provided to an individual patient can fall within the consumer-law framework.

Where a dispute is to be heard before a Consumer Court, Turkish law generally requires an application to mandatory mediation before filing the lawsuit, subject to statutory exceptions.

Article 73/A of the Consumer Protection Law establishes mediation as a prerequisite for litigation in disputes heard before consumer courts, except for the categories expressly excluded by the legislation.

Accordingly, a foreign patient should not simply prepare a compensation petition and immediately file it.

The correct procedural route must first be identified.

Can the Hospital Itself Be Responsible, or Only the Doctor?

The hospital itself can potentially be responsible.

This is particularly important for foreign patients who may know the doctor’s name but assume that the hospital has no responsibility.

That assumption can be incorrect.

A private hospital may have responsibilities relating to matters such as:

• organisation of healthcare services;
• personnel;
• equipment;
• nursing care;
• patient monitoring;
• record keeping;
• informed consent;
• coordination between departments;
• emergency response;
• services performed by persons acting within the hospital structure.

Depending on the circumstances, proceedings may involve both the healthcare institution and one or more medical professionals.

The correct defendants should therefore be identified only after examining the contracts, medical records, invoices and actual role of each party.

A Major 2026 Court of Cassation Decision: A Hospital Can Be Liable Even Where No Technical Medical Error Is Found

A particularly important decision for foreign patients was delivered by the 3rd Civil Chamber of the Turkish Court of Cassation on 20 May 2026.

The case involved treatment at a private hospital.

Expert reports, including forensic medical evaluation, concluded that the medical treatment itself did not involve a technical medical error.

Nevertheless, the courts found that the informed-consent forms were inadequate.

The defendants also failed to prove that the patient had been sufficiently informed orally.

The compensation award was therefore upheld.

The Court of Cassation confirmed that inadequate informed consent can lead to compensation even where expert reports do not establish technical malpractice in the performance of the medical procedure itself.

This is a highly significant principle for international patients.

A hospital cannot necessarily defend a case merely by saying:

“The operation was technically correct.”

A separate question remains:

Was the patient properly informed and did the patient validly consent to the intervention?

What Is Informed Consent?

Informed consent means considerably more than obtaining a patient’s signature.

Under the Patient Rights Regulation, a patient must generally consent to a medical intervention.

The patient should also receive meaningful information concerning matters such as:

• the medical condition;
• nature of the proposed procedure;
• who will perform the procedure;
• alternative treatment methods;
• potential benefits;
• relevant risks;
• possible complications;
• consequences of refusing treatment.

These information requirements are expressly reflected in Article 15 of the Patient Rights Regulation.

Therefore, a consent form should not be viewed as a magical document that automatically eliminates hospital liability.

What If the Foreign Patient Signed a Turkish-Language Consent Form?

This is one of the most important issues in international medical tourism disputes.

Imagine a British patient who speaks no Turkish.

The patient arrives at a Turkish hospital on the morning of surgery.

A staff member hands the patient several pages written entirely in Turkish and indicates where signatures are required.

Twenty minutes later, the patient is taken to the operating theatre.

If the patient subsequently suffers a serious complication, the hospital may produce the signed consent document.

But the legal analysis does not necessarily end there.

Important questions may include:

• Did the patient understand the document?
• Was a translation provided?
• Was an interpreter available?
• Did the treating physician explain the operation?
• Were significant complications explained?
• When was the information provided?
• Was the patient given a realistic opportunity to consider the risks?
• Can the hospital prove that adequate oral information was given?

The 2026 Court of Cassation decision is especially important because the Court upheld liability where the defendants were unable to prove adequate oral information after written consent documentation was found insufficient.

For foreign patients, language can therefore become a major evidential issue.

Complication or Medical Negligence?

Hospitals frequently respond to patient complaints by stating:

“This is a recognised complication.”

That statement can be medically relevant, but it is not necessarily legally decisive.

A complication may indeed occur even where a doctor has acted appropriately.

However, the legal investigation should normally continue.

Questions may include:

Was the complication properly disclosed before treatment?

Were reasonable precautions taken to reduce its likelihood?

Was it recognised quickly enough?

Was it managed according to accepted medical standards?

Did delayed treatment make the injury more severe?

For example, an infection may be a recognised risk of surgery.

But an avoidable delay in diagnosing and treating that infection may create a different question of negligence.

Similarly, bleeding may be a recognised surgical complication.

Failure to monitor the patient properly after the operation may nevertheless create separate liability.

Can You Sue a Turkish Public Hospital?

Potentially, yes, but the procedure is fundamentally different.

Where treatment was provided by a Turkish state hospital or another public healthcare institution, the compensation claim generally falls within the administrative-law framework rather than following the ordinary private-hospital consumer route.

The claim is normally pursued against the responsible public administration through a full remedy action (tam yargı davası).

This distinction is critical.

A foreign patient should not assume that the same lawsuit used against a private cosmetic hospital can simply be copied and filed against a state hospital.

Different:

• defendants;
• courts;
• preliminary applications;
• limitation rules;
• procedural requirements

may apply.

Strict Time Limits Apply to Public Hospital Claims

Public hospital cases require particular urgency.

Under Article 13 of the Administrative Procedure Law No. 2577, a person whose rights have been violated by an administrative act must, before filing a direct full-remedy action, apply to the relevant administration within one year from learning of the act and in any event within five years from the act.

If the request is rejected, or no response is received within the statutory period, the litigation period then becomes relevant.

These procedural rules can be unforgiving.

Therefore, where suspected negligence occurred in:

• a state hospital;
• a Ministry of Health hospital;
• certain public university hospitals;
• another public healthcare institution,

the legal classification should be determined immediately.

What About University Hospitals?

“University hospital” does not necessarily provide enough information by itself.

The legal route can depend on the legal status of the institution.

A public university hospital and a healthcare institution operated within a private/foundation structure may not necessarily be treated identically.

The hospital’s legal personality must therefore be identified before selecting the court.

This illustrates an important principle in Turkish medical malpractice cases:

Do not determine the court merely from the word “hospital.”

The institution’s legal status matters.

What Can a Foreign Patient Claim as Compensation?

Where legal liability is established, a foreign patient may potentially seek both material and non-material compensation.

The categories of recoverable loss depend on the injury and legal basis.

Potential material damages may include:

• additional medical treatment;
• corrective surgery;
• medication;
• rehabilitation;
• hospital expenses;
• future medical treatment;
• loss of earnings;
• reduction in working capacity;
• other documented financial losses caused by the injury.

For international patients, corrective treatment can be particularly significant.

A person may pay €5,000 for surgery in Turkey and later require €25,000 of treatment in Germany or the United Kingdom.

The fact that treatment abroad is more expensive does not automatically mean that every quoted amount will be recovered.

The claimant may need to prove:

• that corrective treatment is medically necessary;
• that it was caused by the original wrongful treatment;
• that the proposed cost is reasonable.

Independent medical documentation can therefore be crucial.

Can You Claim Compensation for Pain, Scarring or Permanent Injury?

Potentially, yes.

Non-material compensation may be available where negligent treatment causes significant injury to bodily integrity.

Examples can include:

• permanent disability;
• visible scarring;
• disfigurement;
• nerve damage;
• chronic pain;
• loss of bodily function;
• permanent physical impairment.

The amount is not calculated from a simple fixed table.

The court examines the circumstances of the particular case.

What Happens If the Patient Dies?

Where medical negligence allegedly results in death, the case can involve substantially more serious consequences.

Depending on the circumstances, qualifying relatives or persons who relied upon the deceased may potentially pursue claims including:

• funeral expenses;
• losses arising from death;
• loss of financial support;
• non-material compensation.

A fatal medical incident may also result in a criminal investigation.

Criminal proceedings and compensation proceedings are related in some respects but remain legally distinct.

The existence of an acquittal in a criminal case does not automatically answer every civil or administrative liability question.

Indeed, the Turkish Constitutional Court has emphasised the need for courts examining medical negligence claims to conduct an effective and sufficiently reasoned investigation of the alleged healthcare failures.

Medical Records Are One of the Most Important Forms of Evidence

Medical negligence cases are heavily evidence-based.

A patient may sincerely believe that the hospital caused an injury.

The hospital may insist that treatment was entirely appropriate.

The court must therefore reconstruct what actually happened.

Medical records are central to that process.

Under Article 16 of the Patient Rights Regulation, patients may inspect records concerning their health and obtain copies themselves or through an authorised representative.

Relevant records may include:

• admission documents;
• consultation records;
• medical history;
• laboratory tests;
• radiological images;
• ultrasound, MRI or CT results;
• informed-consent forms;
• anaesthesia documentation;
• operative reports;
• nursing observations;
• medication charts;
• intensive-care records;
• pathology reports;
• discharge summaries;
• prescriptions;
• postoperative follow-up records.

Foreign patients should seek the complete file, not merely a short discharge report.

What If the Hospital Cannot Produce Important Records?

This can become legally significant.

The Turkish Constitutional Court has specifically addressed failures in medical record keeping.

In the Eyüp Kurt case, the Constitutional Court held that where information that should have existed in the patient’s medical file was unavailable and this prevented proper assessment of medical responsibility, the consequences of the healthcare provider’s record-keeping failure should not simply be interpreted against the patient.

The Court emphasised that recording and retaining diagnosis and treatment information is the responsibility of the healthcare institution.

This is an important principle.

A hospital should not necessarily benefit from its own failure to preserve evidence that should have been maintained.

What If the Hospital Refuses to Give the Patient Medical Records?

A patient or authorised lawyer can make a formal request for records.

The request should ideally be made in a way that can later be proved.

Article 16 expressly recognises the right to inspect and obtain copies. Article 17 also allows patients to seek correction or clarification of inaccurate or incomplete medical information.

Depending on the circumstances, further legal or regulatory steps may be available where records are improperly withheld.

A foreign patient should therefore avoid relying exclusively on repeated WhatsApp requests.

Medical Records and Patient Privacy

Healthcare information is confidential.

Article 23 of the Patient Rights Regulation provides strong confidentiality protection for information obtained through healthcare services.

This can matter particularly in medical tourism.

Cosmetic clinics and hospitals frequently photograph foreign patients for:

• treatment planning;
• before-and-after comparison;
• internal documentation;
• advertising.

Consent to medical treatment should not automatically be assumed to authorise unrestricted public use of medical information.

A dispute concerning medical negligence can therefore sometimes involve a separate privacy or personal-data issue.

International Health Tourism Is Now Subject to a New Regulatory Framework

The legal landscape for foreign patients changed significantly on 26 April 2025.

On that date, Turkey’s new International Health Tourism and Tourist Health Regulation entered into force and repealed the previous 2017 regulation.

The Regulation expressly covers people travelling from abroad to Turkey for healthcare, subject to certain statutory exclusions.

Healthcare facilities and intermediary organisations operating within international health tourism must obtain the relevant authorisation.

The Regulation also establishes service standards concerning:

• healthcare institutions;
• intermediary organisations;
• HealthTürkiye;
• international patient units;
• foreign-language infrastructure;
• billing;
• supervision;
• complication insurance.

This additional regulatory framework can become important where a foreign patient receives negligent treatment through a medical-tourism arrangement.

The New Regulation Expressly Addresses Responsibility for Complications and Medical Malpractice

One of the most significant provisions of the 2025 Regulation states that healthcare facilities and intermediary organisations are responsible according to the nature of the healthcare and intermediary services they provide while the international patient is in Turkey.

The Regulation expressly includes complications and medical malpractice arising after the healthcare service within this responsibility framework.

This wording is especially important for international medical tourism disputes.

A medical tourism intermediary should not automatically be ignored simply because it did not physically carry out the surgery.

Its contractual and regulatory role should be examined.

Can the Medical Tourism Company Also Be Responsible?

Potentially.

A typical international patient may interact with several businesses.

For example:

1. The patient sees an advertisement.
2. A medical tourism company makes contact.
3. A package is sold.
4. The patient pays a deposit.
5. The intermediary arranges the hospital.
6. A surgeon performs the operation.
7. The intermediary arranges the hotel and transfer.

If treatment later goes wrong, it may be necessary to determine whether the intermediary merely provided logistical services or assumed broader contractual obligations.

The 2025 Regulation separately regulates intermediary organisations and requires them to obtain authorisation from USHAŞ.

It also imposes service requirements and expressly recognises responsibility according to the nature of the services provided.

Therefore, a legal investigation should examine both the hospital and the intermediary rather than automatically focusing on only one company.

Complication Insurance May Be Relevant

The current international health tourism regime contains an important insurance rule.

Healthcare facilities are required to obtain complication insurance for surgical and interventional procedures performed in an operating-room environment within international health tourism.

Existing healthcare institutions were required to satisfy this requirement by 31 December 2025.

Accordingly, for qualifying procedures performed during 2026 or later, a patient’s lawyer may need to investigate:

• whether the procedure fell within the insurance requirement;
• whether a policy existed;
• the identity of the insurer;
• whether the particular event falls within the policy.

Complication insurance does not mean that compensation is automatic.

The policy terms and circumstances must be examined.

Can a Foreign Patient Sue After Returning Home?

In many cases, yes.

Leaving Turkey does not automatically extinguish a claim.

This is one of the most common misconceptions among international patients.

A patient may return to:

• London;
• Manchester;
• Berlin;
• Hamburg;
• Paris;
• Brussels;
• Amsterdam;
• Dublin;
• Dubai;
• New York;
• Toronto

and still potentially pursue a claim connected with treatment received in Turkey.

The legal process can often be initiated through an authorised Turkish lawyer.

The patient should therefore not assume:

“I already left Turkey, so it is too late.”

What matters much more is whether applicable legal deadlines remain open and whether the evidence can still be secured.

Does the Patient Need to Return to Turkey to Start the Case?

Not necessarily.

Foreign patients can generally appoint Turkish counsel through an appropriate power of attorney.

Depending on the country involved, a power of attorney may be arranged through:

• a Turkish consulate; or
• an appropriate local notarial procedure followed by apostille or other authentication and Turkish translation where necessary.

The exact formalities depend on the country.

Once properly authorised, Turkish counsel may potentially:

• request medical records;
• identify the hospital’s legal entity;
• investigate regulatory authorisations;
• communicate with the hospital;
• commence mandatory mediation where required;
• pursue negotiations;
• file proceedings;
• conduct much of the litigation.

Whether the patient’s personal attendance later becomes necessary depends on the individual case.

Which Country’s Law Applies?

Where treatment was carried out in Turkey by a Turkish hospital, Turkish law will frequently be central to the dispute.

Cross-border medical cases may nevertheless involve rules of private international law concerning jurisdiction and applicable law.

Academic analysis of Turkish private international law has noted that where healthcare is purchased from a healthcare professional or hospital established in Turkey, Turkish law will commonly govern the relevant treatment relationship, subject to the particular contractual and conflict-of-law circumstances.

For that reason, a patient should not assume that English, German, French or another home-country law automatically applies simply because the patient lives there.

The specific contract and circumstances should be examined.

Can a Foreign Patient Bring the Claim in His or Her Own Country Instead?

That question is considerably more complex.

Whether a foreign court has jurisdiction depends upon that country’s procedural rules and the circumstances of the transaction.

Even where a patient obtains a foreign judgment, enforcement against assets in Turkey may create additional recognition and enforcement issues.

For many claims involving a Turkish hospital and treatment performed in Turkey, pursuing the appropriate Turkish legal route may therefore be the most direct approach.

The correct strategy should nevertheless be considered individually.

What Evidence Should a Foreign Patient Preserve?

The following evidence may be critical:

1. Medical records.
2. Operative reports.
3. Consent forms.
4. Laboratory results.
5. Radiological images.
6. Discharge reports.
7. Prescriptions.
8. Before-and-after photographs.
9. Contracts.
10. Invoices.
11. Bank transfers.
12. Credit-card payments.
13. WhatsApp conversations.
14. Emails.
15. Clinic or hospital advertisements.
16. Medical-tourism package documents.
17. Independent medical reports obtained after returning home.
18. Corrective-treatment plans.
19. Corrective-treatment invoices.
20. Proof of lost income.
21. Travel expenses caused by additional treatment.

Evidence should ideally be preserved before a dispute escalates.

Online advertisements can disappear.

WhatsApp accounts can be deleted.

Records can become more difficult to obtain over time.

Early action therefore matters.

Can a Patient Use Medical Reports From the UK, Germany or Another Country?

Yes, foreign medical evidence may be valuable.

Suppose a British patient returns home after surgery and is immediately admitted to an NHS hospital.

Those records may provide crucial evidence concerning:

• the patient’s condition upon return;
• infection;
• surgical complications;
• emergency intervention;
• corrective procedures;
• permanent injury.

Similarly, a German specialist’s report can help establish the condition after treatment.

For formal use in Turkish proceedings, translations and procedural requirements may need to be satisfied.

However, patients should preserve all such records from the beginning.

How Is Medical Negligence Proven?

Medical malpractice litigation is highly dependent on expert evidence.

The court may need specialist assessment concerning questions such as:

• Was the treatment medically indicated?
• Was the appropriate technique used?
• Was the intervention consistent with accepted standards?
• Was the patient’s condition monitored adequately?
• Was the adverse result an unavoidable complication?
• Was the complication managed correctly?
• Did negligence cause the injury?
• Is the injury permanent?
• What corrective treatment is required?

Depending on the case, expert examination may involve the Forensic Medicine Institute, university departments or court-appointed medical experts.

The patient’s photographs and personal description are important, but they usually cannot replace technical medical analysis.

What Should a Foreign Patient Do Immediately After Suspected Negligence?

The patient’s health must come first.

If there is an urgent medical problem, obtain appropriate medical treatment immediately.

Once the patient’s condition is stable, consider the following steps:

1. Obtain independent medical advice.

A doctor unrelated to the original hospital may provide an objective assessment.

2. Request the complete medical file.

Do not wait until litigation begins.

3. Preserve communications.

Keep WhatsApp messages, emails and voice messages.

4. Save invoices and payment records.

These help identify contractual parties.

5. Document the injury.

Keep photographs where relevant.

6. Obtain subsequent treatment records.

Especially where corrective treatment is provided abroad.

7. Identify whether the hospital was private or public.

This determines the basic legal route.

8. Identify any medical tourism intermediary.

Do not assume only the hospital may be relevant.

9. Review informed consent.

Determine which risks were actually explained.

10. Check legal deadlines quickly.

Particularly where a public hospital was involved.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a British patient sue a Turkish hospital?

Potentially, yes. British nationality does not prevent a patient from bringing an appropriate compensation claim in Turkey where the requirements for liability are established.

Can I sue a hospital in Turkey after returning to the UK?

Potentially, yes. Leaving Turkey does not automatically prevent proceedings, and substantial parts of the process may be conducted through authorised Turkish counsel.

Can a German patient sue a Turkish private hospital?

Potentially, yes. Foreign nationality itself does not prevent proceedings. The patient’s legal rights depend on the treatment relationship and applicable Turkish law.

Do I have to prove that the doctor made a technical mistake?

Not necessarily in every type of claim. The Court of Cassation’s 20 May 2026 judgment is particularly important because compensation was upheld for inadequate informed consent even though expert reports did not identify a technical medical error.

Can I sue if I signed a consent form?

Potentially. The existence of a signature does not automatically prove that informed consent was legally adequate. The content, language, timing and actual information supplied to the patient can all be relevant.

What if I could not understand Turkish?

The adequacy of communication and consent becomes especially important. A hospital may need to demonstrate that the patient was meaningfully informed.

Can I obtain my medical records after returning home?

Yes. Article 16 of the Patient Rights Regulation allows the patient or authorised representative to inspect healthcare records and obtain copies.

Can the hospital refuse to give me my records?

A patient has a legally recognised right of access. An unjustified refusal should therefore be addressed through an appropriate formal process.

What if important records are missing?

Missing records can be legally significant. The Constitutional Court has held that failure of a healthcare provider to maintain information that should exist in a patient’s medical file should not simply operate to the patient’s disadvantage.

Can I sue a public hospital?

Potentially, but the claim generally follows administrative-law procedures rather than the ordinary private-hospital route.

What is the deadline for a public hospital malpractice claim?

Article 13 of the Administrative Procedure Law requires a prior application to the administration within one year from learning of the relevant administrative act and, in any event, within five years of the act, subject to the precise application of the statute to the case.

Is mediation required before suing a private hospital?

Where the dispute falls within Consumer Court jurisdiction, mandatory mediation generally applies before litigation, subject to the exceptions listed in Article 73/A of the Consumer Protection Law.

Can I claim the cost of corrective surgery?

Potentially. Necessary and reasonable corrective-treatment costs causally connected to the wrongful treatment may be included within a material damages claim where liability is established.

Can I claim lost income?

Potentially, where the inability to work and amount of loss can be proved and causally connected to the medical injury.

Can I claim for permanent scarring?

Potentially. Permanent bodily injury, including serious scarring and disfigurement, may be relevant to non-material compensation and potentially other heads of damage.

Can I sue the medical tourism agency as well?

Potentially. The 2025 International Health Tourism Regulation separately regulates intermediary organisations and expressly addresses responsibility according to the nature of the services provided.

Is complication insurance required?

For qualifying international health-tourism surgical and interventional procedures carried out in an operating-room environment, the 2025 Regulation requires complication insurance.

Conclusion: Foreign Patients Can Take Legal Action Against Turkish Hospitals

A foreign patient can potentially sue a Turkish hospital or pursue the appropriate Turkish legal remedy where negligent healthcare causes injury.

Citizenship is not the decisive issue.

The decisive issues are:

What treatment was provided?

Was the hospital private or public?

Did the doctor and hospital comply with accepted medical standards?

Was the patient properly informed?

Was legally adequate consent obtained?

Did a complication occur?

Was that complication properly managed?

Did the hospital maintain adequate medical records?

What damage did the patient suffer?

Can that damage be causally connected to the treatment?

The distinction between private and public hospitals must be identified at an early stage.

Private hospital claims may involve contractual liability, consumer law and mandatory mediation.

Public hospital claims normally fall within administrative jurisdiction and may involve strict preliminary application periods under Article 13 of the Administrative Procedure Law.

Informed consent is also increasingly important.

The Court of Cassation’s 20 May 2026 decision demonstrates that a hospital may face compensation liability even where the technical medical procedure itself was not found negligent, if legally adequate informed consent cannot be established.

For foreign patients, this is particularly significant.

International medical tourism often involves language barriers, rapidly signed documents and communication through non-medical sales representatives.

The regulatory framework has also become stronger since 26 April 2025.

Turkey’s new International Health Tourism and Tourist Health Regulation requires healthcare institutions and medical-tourism intermediaries operating within the system to hold relevant authorisations and comply with specific service standards. It expressly brings post-treatment complications and medical malpractice within the responsibility framework applicable according to the services provided and requires complication insurance for qualifying operating-room procedures.

Foreign patients should therefore preserve evidence immediately where treatment appears to have gone wrong.

The most useful evidence may include:

medical records, consent forms, surgical reports, radiological examinations, photographs, hospital invoices, payment records, WhatsApp conversations, advertisements, independent medical reports and corrective-treatment documentation.

Medical records deserve particular attention.

The Patient Rights Regulation expressly gives patients access to their healthcare records, and the Turkish Constitutional Court has stressed that deficiencies in medical record keeping should not unfairly operate against a person attempting to establish medical negligence.

Finally, a foreign patient who has already returned home should not assume that the opportunity to seek compensation has disappeared.

A patient living in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia or another country may potentially appoint Turkish counsel, obtain missing records, initiate the necessary preliminary proceedings and pursue compensation without relocating to Turkey.

However, medical malpractice disputes are highly fact-specific and time limits can differ considerably depending on whether treatment occurred at a private or public healthcare institution and on the legal basis of the claim.

For that reason, early legal assessment is particularly important.

If medical treatment in a Turkish hospital resulted in permanent injury, additional surgery, serious complications, disability or another substantial loss, the patient should obtain the complete medical record and have the case assessed under Turkish law before evidence is lost or procedural deadlines expire.

Legal Disclaimer

This article provides general information concerning Turkish medical negligence law and the rights of foreign patients. It does not constitute legal advice concerning any individual medical treatment or compensation claim.

The applicable court, defendant, limitation period and legal basis depend on matters including the legal status of the hospital, the treatment relationship, medical evidence, informed-consent documentation, applicable international private law and the circumstances of the individual case.