diff --git a/api/src/errors.js b/api/src/errors.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..70a3de8f368
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/src/errors.js
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+class PublicError extends Error {
+  constructor(publicMessage, ...args) {
+    super(publicMessage, ...args);
+    this.publicMessage = publicMessage;
+  }
+}
+
+class NotFoundError extends Error {
+  constructor(message, ...args) {
+    super(message, ...args);
+    this.status = 404; // simulate PouchDb error
+    this.statusCode = 404; // simulate Request error
+  }
+}
+
+module.exports = {
+  PublicError,
+  NotFoundError,
+};
diff --git a/api/src/public-error.js b/api/src/public-error.js
deleted file mode 100644
index 3d207200c7b..00000000000
--- a/api/src/public-error.js
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-class PublicError extends Error {
-  constructor(publicMessage, ...args) {
-    super(publicMessage, ...args);
-    this.publicMessage = publicMessage;
-  }
-}
-
-module.exports = PublicError;
diff --git a/api/src/services/privacy-policy.js b/api/src/services/privacy-policy.js
index ec1d6dd5e3c..4555195757d 100644
--- a/api/src/services/privacy-policy.js
+++ b/api/src/services/privacy-policy.js
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ const sanitizeHtml = require('sanitize-html');
 const db = require('../db');
 const logger = require('@medic/logger');
 const config = require('../config');
+const { NotFoundError } = require('../errors');
 
 const PRIVACY_POLICY_DOC_ID = 'privacy-policies';
 
@@ -22,7 +23,7 @@ const getDoc = (options=({})) => {
     .then(doc => {
       const policies = doc.privacy_policies;
       if (!policies || !Object.keys(policies).length) { // invalid doc
-        throw new Error(`Invalid ${PRIVACY_POLICY_DOC_ID} doc: missing required "privacy_policies" property`);
+        throw new NotFoundError(`Invalid ${PRIVACY_POLICY_DOC_ID} doc: missing required "privacy_policies" property`);
       }
       return doc;
     })
diff --git a/api/src/services/records.js b/api/src/services/records.js
index b6edb7d15a7..625994975a6 100644
--- a/api/src/services/records.js
+++ b/api/src/services/records.js
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ const phoneNumber = require('@medic/phone-number');
 const config = require('../config');
 const smsparser = require('./report/smsparser');
 const validate = require('./report/validate');
-const PublicError = require('../public-error');
+const { PublicError } = require('../errors');
 const DATE_NUMBER_STRING = /(\d{13,})/;
 
 // matches invisible characters that can mess up our parsing
diff --git a/api/tests/mocha/services/privacy-policy.spec.js b/api/tests/mocha/services/privacy-policy.spec.js
index 6bc4315ff4e..6aecab9956d 100644
--- a/api/tests/mocha/services/privacy-policy.spec.js
+++ b/api/tests/mocha/services/privacy-policy.spec.js
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ const sinon = require('sinon');
 const service = require('../../../src/services/privacy-policy');
 const db = require('../../../src/db');
 const config = require('../../../src/config');
+const logger = require('@medic/logger');
 
 describe('Privacy Policy service', () => {
 
@@ -123,6 +124,27 @@ describe('Privacy Policy service', () => {
       });
     });
 
+    it('should throw error when doc does not exist', async () => {
+      sinon.spy(logger, 'error');
+      sinon.stub(db.medic, 'get').rejects({ status: 404 });
+      await chai.expect(service.get('sw')).to.be.rejected.and.eventually.deep.equal({ status: 404 });
+      chai.expect(logger.error.called).to.equal(false);
+    });
+
+    it('should throw error when doc has no policies', async () => {
+      sinon.stub(db.medic, 'get').resolves({ privacy_policies: {} });
+      sinon.spy(logger, 'error');
+      await chai.expect(service.get('sw')).to.be.rejected.and.eventually.deep.include({ status: 404 });
+      chai.expect(logger.error.called).to.equal(false);
+    });
+
+    it('should throw error on misconfigured doc', async () => {
+      sinon.stub(db.medic, 'get').resolves({ });
+      sinon.spy(logger, 'error');
+      await chai.expect(service.get('sw')).to.be.rejected.and.eventually.deep.include({ status: 404 });
+      chai.expect(logger.error.called).to.equal(false);
+    });
+
   });
 
 });