ERACS as a Legal Obligation: A Compliance-Based Model for Protecting Post-Caesarean Patients’ Rights

The existence of a wide disparity in post-caesarean recovery duration positions Enhanced Recovery After Caesarean Surgery (ERACS) not merely as a clinical guideline, but as a verifiable duty that must be substantiated through evidence of service processes and adequate documentation. Employing a descriptive–analytical research method, this study maps recovery outcomes and incorporates interviews with healthcare personnel, integrated with an assessment of statutory and regulatory obligations under Law No. 17 of 2023 and Government Regulation No. 28 of 2024, as well as a distributive–procedural justice framework. The findings affirm that extreme outcome disparities among patients with relatively similar characteristics should be treated as a trigger for process-based audit, such that any claim of ERACS implementation must be supported by traceable service records, particularly regarding infection prevention, wound care, pain control, post-discharge education, follow-up scheduling, and responsiveness to patient complaints. Accordingly, this study proposes a compliance-evidence model that links ERACS elements to documentary proof and patient-safety indicators, whereby failures of compliance or documentation open the possibility of layered accountability for both healthcare professionals and hospitals, in furtherance of protecting patients’ rights to safe and high-quality healthcare services.