Law Commons^™

Medical Malpractice: The Italian Experience, Claudia Dimarzo

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Beginning with an investigation into the problematic nature of medical liability, the Article overviews the most significant approaches taken by courts and scholars in order to establish whether the physician's position before the patient is comparable with that of either a tortfeasor or a contractor.

Having explained that the most recent approaches in this regard tend toward the recognition of the contractual nature of medical liability, the Author discusses the implications of such a solution, making specific reference to the following issues: 1) the assignment of the burden of proof (along with the distinction between obligations of means and obligations …

Medical Malpractice And Compensation In South Africa, L. C. Coetzee, Pieter Carstens

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This article gives an overview of current medical malpractice law in South Africa. The following aspects are covered: The overall scheme for preventing and redressing medical errors and adverse events, including regulation, criminal and civil liability, and social and private insurance, and the relationships among these various systems; the details of the applicable liability and compensation systems, including criteria defining qualification for compensation, causation and "loss of chance," liability for failure to obtain informed consent, as well as matters of proof and gathering of evidence. The authors note the difficulty they had in obtaining empirical data on medical errors and …

Medical Malpractice In Austria, Bernhard A. Koch

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This article presents the Austrian law governing compensation for medical malpractice in an overview. After a glimpse at the healthcare and social insurance system, the regulatory framework is outlined, with an obvious particular focus on tort and contract law. Apart from the special case where informed consent is lacking, the various elements of a claim that patients may have mirror the general requirements of tort and contract liability in Austria, which is why the brief sketch may also serve to give at least some basic insight into that part of the legal system in general. Furthermore, peculiar approaches in handling …

Treatment Injury In New Zealand, Stephen Todd

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The New Zealand accident compensation scheme makes provision for the payment of compensation to the victims of personal injury that is caused by medical treatment, but at the same time it bars actions for damages based upon such injury. This article gives a brief overview of the scheme as a whole and its relation- ship with the common law, and then focuses on the particular provisions governing medical injury. It includes discussion of the extent of the statutory cover, problems of causation, the operation of the medical scheme in practice, costs and funding, and issues of accountability. It ends with …

Medical Malpractice And Compensation In Poland, Kinga Bączyk-Rozwadowska

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Civil liability for medical malpractice in Poland can be either contractual or tortious. In practice, provisions of ex delicto liability are applied. Since June 2010, liability insurance is obligatory for all health care providers that render medical services in Poland. Tortious liability may be attributed to a doctor or a hospital when either's faulty acts or omissions result in the damage. A hospital may also have vicarious liability for injuries caused by its doctors and other medical staff. Fault usually consists of negligence, which is defined as failure to work with due care and diligence while treating a patient. Burden …