Malpractice and Medical Liability

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxv

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2. Overview

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. Present and Future Perspectives for Medical Malpractice, Responsibility, and Liability

      • S. Davide Ferrara, Guido Viel, Rafael Boscolo-Berto

      Pages 3-10

3. Historical Background

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 11-11

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   2. Historical Overview of Medical Liability

      • Maurizio Rippa Bonati, Fabio Zampieri

      Pages 13-49

   3. Praxis et Mala-Praxis Medica

      • Ivone Cacciavillani

      Pages 51-66

4. Legislative and Juridical Background

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 67-67

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   2. European Legislative and Juridical Overview

      • Paola Frati, Matteo Gulino

      Pages 69-92

   3. Causal Value and Causal Link

      • S. Davide Ferrara

      Pages 93-107

5. Major European Countries and/or Areas

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 109-109

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   2. Medical Responsibility and Liability in German-Speaking Countries: Austria, Germany, and Switzerland

      • Thomas Bajanowski, Walter Rabl, Tony Fracasso

      Pages 111-127

   3. Medical Responsibility and Liability in the United Kingdom

      • Peter Vanezis

      Pages 129-143

   4. Medical Responsibility and Liability in France

      • Eric Baccino

      Pages 145-160

   5. Medical Responsibility and Liability in Spain

      • María Castellano Arroyo, Ricardo de Ángel Yágüez

      Pages 161-188

   6. Medical Responsibility and Liability in Portugal

      • Vera Lúcia Raposo, Duarte Nuno Vieira

      Pages 189-207

   7. Medical Responsibility and Liability in Italy

      • Pietrantonio Ricci, Francesco Ausania, Paolo Arbarello

      Pages 209-226

   8. Medical Responsibility and Liability in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia

      • Alvydas Pauliukevičius, Marija Caplinskienė, Romas Raudys, Ojars Teteris, Grigorijs Vabel, Marika Väli

      Pages 227-243

6. Consensus Document: European Guidelines

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 245-245

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   2. Medico-Legal Methods of Ascertainment and Criteria of Evaluation in Medical Responsibility and Liability

      • S. Davide Ferrara, Eric Baccino, Thomas Bajanowski, Rafael Boscolo-Berto, Maria Castellano Arroyo, Ricardo De Angel Yágüez et al.

      Pages 247-275

7. Final Statements

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 277-277

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Medical responsibility lawsuits have become a fact of life in every physician’s medical practice. However, there is evidence that physicians are increasingly practising defensive medicine, ordering more tests than may be necessary and avoiding patients with complicated conditions. The modern practice of medicine is increasingly complicated by factors beyond the traditional realm of patient care, including novel technologies, loss of physician autonomy, and economic pressures. A continuing and significant issue affecting physicians and the healthcare system is malpractice. In the latter half of the 20th century, there was a major change in the attitude of the public towards the medical profession. People were made aware of the huge advances in medical technology, because health problems increasingly tended to attract media interest and wide publicity. Medicine is a victim of its own success in this respect, and people are now led to expect the latest techniques and perfect outcomes on all occasions. This burst of technology and hyper-specialization in many fields of medicine means that each malpractice claim is transformed into a scientific challenge, requiring specific preparation in analysis and judgment of the clinical case in question. The role of legal medicine becomes more and more peculiar in this judicial setting, often giving rise to erroneous interpretations and hasty scientific verdicts, but guidelines on the methodology of ascertainments and criteria of evaluation are lacking all over the world.The aim of this volume is to clarify the steps required for sequential in-depth analysis of events and consequences of medical actions, in order to verify whether, in the presence of damage, errors or non-observance of rules of conduct by health personnel exist, and which causal values and links of their hypothetical misconduct are involved.​  

• medical malpractice
• medical responsibility
• medical tests

• Institute of Legal Medicine, Dept. of Envionmental Medicine, University Hospital of Padova, Padova, Italy

  Santo Davide Ferrara

• , Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

  Rafael Boscolo-Berto, Guido Viel

The editors and authors are leading individuals in the field of legal medicine and represent the European and International Academies of Legal Medicine.

Policies and ethics