This new work adds to the theoretical understanding and discussion of possible solutions to various conceptual and practical problems that arise within the field of medical negligence - an area whose legal treatment is perceived, both in England and Germany, as containing a number of special difficulties and shortcomings. In addition it seeks to make a contribution to the developing field of comparative law, by employing a detailed and closely focused analytical approach in a tightly defined subject area. These twin aims serve to reveal the similarities and differences between two legal cultures in a particularly clear and striking way. The book offers an analysis which is neutral as between the English and German approaches. The issues are dealt with thematically so far as possible, so that the respective treatments in each country of a given matter, eg the standard of care owed by medical practitioners, are discussed side-by-side. The book thus avoids the 'country-report' style, whereby the systems are presented largely separately from each other. What is of particular interest is how, notwithstanding their common starting point in terms of the application of the fault-principle under private law, the detailed rules in the two countries differ markedly. This is true both in the divergent way that claims are structured and argued, and also quite often as regards their substantive outcome. It will be of interest to comparative lawyers, tort and medical lawyers, and practising lawyers working in these areas.

This monograph is the most comprehensive comparative law study of legal responsibility arising from medical care presently available. It is written for doctors as well as health care administrators and legal professionals. Focusing on the problems of civil liability, it presents the development, points of contact with, and differences between the modern law of medical liability stemming from both the Common Law and Civil Law traditions of England, Scotland, Eire, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United States, South Africa, France, Belgium, West Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. It demonstrates the extent to which both problems of medical law and trends towards their solution are already familiar in these legal systems. The work describes principles and trends, not by confronting the reader with national reports' and separate chapters on different legal systems; rather, the relevant legal problems are analyzed from an integrative, comparative viewpoint. The main thrust of the presentation is the analysis of numerous court decisions -- the number of which is rising ominously in the United States -- on the civil liability of doctors and hospitals for damages arising from substandard treatment or inadequate disclosure of information to the patient. References to the legal and medical literature, indexes, and a refined system of cross-references, together with an important collection of appendices covering legal and ethical declarations make this work accessible as a handbook and reference work for the legal and social problems encountered today in the wide area of law, ethics, and medicine.

Considers the lessons that French medical accident liability and redress law provides for possible reform in England and elsewhere.

The papers in this collection are drawn from a symposium held in Vienna in December 2010. Organised by the Institute for European Tort Law and the Chicago-Kent Law Review, in collaboration with the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law, the conference drew together legal experts from 14 national or regional systems across six continents. Medical malpractice and compensation for medical injuries are issues which regularly create tension and innovation in national legal systems but the analysis of these areas is often limited to national audiences. This study examines the issues in a uniquely global context, demonstrating the breadth of approaches currently taken around the world and revealing key areas of tension and the likely direction of future developments. Wherever possible, the analysis is supported by reference to empirical data. The 14 legal systems covered in the collection are Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Scandinavia, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. A general comparative introduction completes the collection.

Lucid and logical in structure, this new edition, previously entitled Sourcebook on Medical Law draws together a wide range of essential material, including extracts from statutes, cases and academic commentary from medical law; an area which is fast becoming an important part of undergraduate syllabuses.Fully updated to take account of recent developments in this dynamic area of law, it examines two major pieces of legislation: the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Human Tissue Act 2004 as well as a significant amount of new case law, including the House of Lords decisions in Chester v Afshar and Gregg v Scott and the Court of Appeal decision in R (on the application of Burke) v GMC and others.Divided into two parts, it covers:the general principles that permeate medical law, exploring illness and the ethics of care and healthcare in England and Wales and consent to treatment, confidentiality and medical malpracticeissues which arise in relation to specific areas of medical treatment, including infertility treatment and surrogacy, pregnancy and abortion, treating the incompetent, the mentally ill, medical research, organ transplants and euthanasia. This textbook is an invaluable reference tool for all those studying medical law as well as those studying medicine.

This is a comprehensive reference text that examines the current state of Legal Medicine, which encompasses Forensic Medicine, in the 21st century. It examines the scope of both legal and forensic medicine, its application and study and has adopted a wide ranging approach including multinational authorship. It reviews the differences between and similarities of forensic and legal medicine, the need for academic qualification, the applications to many and varied fields including international aid, military medicine, health law and the application of medical knowledge to both criminal law and tort/civil law, sports medicine and law, gender and age related factors from obstetrics through to geriatrics and palliative care as well as cultural differences exploring the Christian/Judeo approach compared with that within Islamic cultures, Buddhism and Hinduism. The book looks at practical applications of legal medicine within various international and intercultural frameworks. This is a seminal authoritative text in legal and forensic medicine. It has a multi-author and multinational approach which crosses national boundaries. There is a great interest in the development of health law and legal medicine institutes around the world and this text comes in on the ground floor of this burgeoning discipline and provides the foundation text for many courses, both undergraduate and postgraduate. It defines the place of legal medicine as a specialized discipline.​

This book aims to analyse the legal tools that the legislatures of France, Germany and Italy adopted in order to regulate medical malpractice. In the mid-1970s, a reform movement started in the United States, where there was considerable concern about then ongoing medical malpractice crises. Since the beginning of the current century, France, Germany and Italy have passed statutes that aim to reform medical liability rules. Thus, it is first interesting to assess whether any medical malpractice crises have been identified in these systems and, second, how these have been faced through the passing of new statutes on the continent. Accordingly, the first chapter explores the idea of medical malpractice crisis and its relationship with the insurance market, also considering the reflections of American scholars. It then reconstructs the French, German and Italian legal frameworks, as well as their insurance and litigation contexts, reviewing and commenting on the quantitative evidence that was collected before the reforms. The second chapter briefly summarises the debate on medical malpractice reforms in France, Germany and Italy. It then analyses the statutes that have been passed, distinguishing between reforms that consolidate case law and reforms that introduce innovative solutions, sometimes repealing court-developed doctrines. In particular, the chapter examines in a comparative perspective the diff erent options adopted in these civil law countries with regard to the rules on liability, burden of proof, statute of limitations and damages. Moreover, the chapter examines the reforms of insurance, procedural and evidence law, to the extent they affect medical malpractice cases. The third chapter reviews and analyses the current available data related to medical malpractice litigation and insurance after the reforms adopted in France, Germany and Italy, in order to find out evidence of their effectiveness and efficiency. It also highlights some aspects of medical malpractice law that still belong to the domain of the judiciary. It finally points out which problems may be addressed by the legislatures and what further data should be collected in the future. This work may interest legal scholars, healthcare providers, insurers and policymakers.