Complaint to a hospital or clinic (France)
Published byDocMuse
This document is in French
The PDF you download is in French — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
For a patient or relative unhappy with care in a French hospital or clinic: the written complaint to the establishment's legal representative under articles R. 1112-91 ff. of the French Public Health Code. In French, it sets out the facts and the request, and asks for review by the users' committee and a meeting with the mediator, who sees the complainant within eight days of being referred the case. Compensation for a medical accident is claimed free from the CCI on its own form. Sold blank, to complete by hand. Sent by registered post.
- Made for use in France
- Last updated October 13, 2026
When to use this document
- You are unhappy with the care you received in a hospital or clinic in France and want to complain.
- A relative was poorly looked after in hospital and you want the establishment to explain itself.
- Staff ignored your requests or left you without information about your treatment.
- You want to complain in writing to the hospital director and meet the mediator.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Sender
- Sender's address
- Healthcare provider (hospital, clinic)
- Practice or hospital postal address
- City
- Date
- Patient
- Period of treatment
- What happened: the treatment, the course of events and what you object to
- Requested outcome
- Attachments
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- What happens after a written complaint to a French hospital?
- The establishment's legal representative replies and refers the case to the mediator, or tells you that you may do so: a medical mediator for care, a non-medical one for everything else. The mediator meets you, normally within eight days, then reports to the users' committee, which makes recommendations; the establishment then answers you in writing. The procedure is free and does not stop you taking another route.
- How is compensation obtained after a medical accident in France?
- A complaint to the hospital does not compensate. For serious harm, the regional conciliation and compensation committee (CCI) is approached free of charge on the official form published by ONIAM, with no compulsory representative. Referral to it suspends limitation; a liability action is time-barred ten years after the injury stabilises (article L. 1142-28 of the French Public Health Code). Ask for your medical record first: it is the core of any claim.
- Can a relative send the complaint to a French hospital instead of the patient?
- Yes: the letter has a line for the patient concerned when someone else is writing. Get the patient's agreement, and enclose medical documents only with their consent: the establishment owes confidentiality towards third parties. The template is sold blank and completed by hand, because a complaint about care holds health data that DocMuse does not collect. Send it by registered post with proof of receipt and keep a copy.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
DocMuse sells documents, not legal advice. Acceptance always depends on the recipient's rules and your local law.
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