Hospital Legal Liability for Violations of Patient Rights in Health Services under Law No. 17 of 2023 on Health

Abstract

The hospital is where patient rights are tested in practice, and Law No. 17 of 2023 on Health
(the Health Law) changes the basis of its liability. This study analyses the responsibility of
hospitals for fulfilling patient rights and the legal consequences when service standards are
violated. It uses normative legal research with statutory, conceptual and case approaches,
supported by secondary data from the Ministry of Health, press reports and legal literature.
Article 276 lists patient rights and Article 189(1) lists hospital duties, but the two are not
expressly linked; only emergency care has an explicit prohibition (Article 174(2)) and a
criminal penalty (Article 438). Article 193 makes the hospital liable for losses caused by the
negligence of its human resources, while the administrative sanctions of Article 189(2) are
detailed only in Article 853 of Government Regulation No. 28 of 2024. By the authors’
calculation, the maximum fine in Article 438(1) falls by 75.00%, from IDR 200 million to IDR
50 million (category III) after the criminal-penalty adjustment. In the Jayapura incident of
November 2025, no sanction had been imposed when the last report was read, and a shortage
of specialists (47,454 against a need of about 78,000) was a contributing cause. The study
concludes that hospital liability needs clear sanction criteria, a clear civil route and state
provision of capacity.