Malpractice and Medical Liability
Overview
- Editors:
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Santo Davide Ferrara
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Institute of Legal Medicine, Dept. of Envionmental Medicine, University Hospital of Padova, Padova, Italy
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Rafael Boscolo-Berto
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, Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
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Guido Viel
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, Department of Molecular Medicine, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
Provides consensus guidelines on methods of ascertainment as well as evaluation criteria in medical responsibility and liability by the International Working Group of the European Academy of Legal Medicine (EALM)
Provides a comparative overview about legislation and jurisdiction in 11 different European countries
Clarifies the steps required for a sequential, in-depth analysis of events and the consequences of medical actions
About this book
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.
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Table of contents (15 chapters)
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Overview
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- S. Davide Ferrara, Guido Viel, Rafael Boscolo-Berto
Pages 3-10
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Historical Background
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- Maurizio Rippa Bonati, Fabio Zampieri
Pages 13-49
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Legislative and Juridical Background
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- Paola Frati, Matteo Gulino
Pages 69-92
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Major European Countries and/or Areas
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Front Matter
Pages 109-109
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- Thomas Bajanowski, Walter Rabl, Tony Fracasso
Pages 111-127
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- María Castellano Arroyo, Ricardo de Ángel Yágüez
Pages 161-188
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- Vera Lúcia Raposo, Duarte Nuno Vieira
Pages 189-207
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- Pietrantonio Ricci, Francesco Ausania, Paolo Arbarello
Pages 209-226
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- Alvydas Pauliukevičius, Marija Caplinskienė, Romas Raudys, Ojars Teteris, Grigorijs Vabel, Marika Väli
Pages 227-243
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Consensus Document: European Guidelines
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Front Matter
Pages 245-245
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- S. Davide Ferrara, Eric Baccino, Thomas Bajanowski, Rafael Boscolo-Berto, Maria Castellano Arroyo, Ricardo De Angel Yágüez et al.
Pages 247-275
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Final Statements
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Front Matter
Pages 277-277
About the editors
The editors and authors are leading individuals in the field of legal medicine and represent the European and International Academies of Legal Medicine.