Author(s): Gunawan Widjaja
Malpractice in the healthcare profession, especially in physician practice, has been treated as a crime in Indonesia since a long time ago. The research aims to discuss and explain that healthcare malpractice is a civil dispute over a breach of contracts. This research is normative legal research that uses secondary data. Data used in the research consist of laws and regulations and scholars' opinions which explains matters that do not clear in the laws and regulations. The research found that in principle healthcare profession's relation with patients is a contractual relation. Any un-performance based on the contractual obligation shall be treated as a breach of contract. Malpractice as bad or un-performance of the duty and/or obligation, which arises from contractual relation, is, therefore, a breach of contract. However, if such breach of the contract meets the elements of a criminal provision, it does not necessarily mean that the malpractice is a crime. There is no provision in the laws and regulations that define malpractice as a crime. The research also comments on a medical special court discourse.