Organizational and legal issues of examination of minors in a gynecological hospital
Authors:   Rostov branch Saint Petersburg Academy of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Samoilova Yu.B. , Paikov A.Yu. ,   Federal State Budget Establishment of High Education “Rostov State Medical University” of the Ministry of Healthcare of the Russian Federation, Miroshnikova E. M. ,   Municipal Budgetary Healthcare Institution “City Hospital № 8 of Rostov-on-Don”
Published: January 2023

The organizational and legal aspects of gynecological care for minors remain a matter of debate, and the indicated topic requires further detailed study. Due to the limited scope of work, not all relevant aspects on the issue under consideration are considered, but only issues of providing information about a minor to law enforcement agencies without the consent of the patient and her legal representative. The relevance of the study is largely due to the fact that the answer to the indicated questions causes difficulties not only among medical professionals, but also among lawyers. The authors set out to substantiate the main features of the organization of gynecological care for minor patients, as well as provisions for the observance of their rights. To achieve the goal, the authors set the tasks of determining the legal status of minor patients of the gynecological hospital, the accompanying duties of medical workers and medical organizations, development of practical recommendations on the actions of a medical organization when examining a minor and establishing the fact of pregnancy, as well as interaction with law enforcement agencies.The study materials were the provisions of regulatory legal acts in the field of health protection and ensuring the rights of minors, as well as judicial practice on the issue under study. When conducting the study, the authors used general scientific and private scientific methods of cognition, such as analysis and synthesis, formal and legal, interpretations. During the examination of a minor in a gynecological hospital, doctors face the need to ensure the rights of minor patients both to sexual inviolability, sexual freedom and the normal moral and physical development of the minor’s personality, as well as to ensure the protection of personal data and medical secrets. I correspond to these rights the obligations of medical workers and medical organizations not only to transfer information about the patient to law enforcement agencies in cases established by law, but also to comply with the requirements of the law on the protection of information constituting a secret protected by law. As a result of the study, the authors came to the following conclusions. When establishing the fact of pregnancy of a minor or the entry of a minor into sexual intercourse (other sexual acts), if there are no sufficient grounds to believe that harm to her health was caused as a result of illegal actions, the medical professional (doctor) must explain to the minor (her legal representative) the possibility of transmitting relevant information to the internal affairs body; obtain written consent to the transfer of relevant information to the internal affairs body, which is stored in a medical organization; transfer relevant information to the medical officer responsible for timely informing the internal affairs bodies. The results of the study can be used by gynecological hospitals and other medical institutions in organizing the provision of gynecological care to minor patients, interaction with the internal affairs bodies to protect the rights and legitimate interests of minors.