[On the applied medicolegal significance of the notion of "medical error"].

The current practice of expertise of the adequacy of organization of the provision of medical aid introduces a new aspect of the notion of "medical error" that is widely employed in medical profession, among lawyers, patients, and their relatives as well as in mass media. The universally accepted meaning of this notion has not thus far been proposed. The authors consider the medico-legal concept of "medical error" reconciling the contradictory opinions.