“We appeal to the consciences of all MPs to vote against the approval of art. 7 of the DDL on the professional liability of healthcare personnel, which reverses the burden of proof from the professional to the sick citizen, who will have to demonstrate not only the damage but also the dynamics of the error and responsibility". This is the joint request of the Tribunal for the rights of the patient-Citizenship and SISMLA (Italian Syndicate of Specialists in Legal Medicine and Insurance).
“Our parliamentarians risk assuming the responsibility that an anesthetized person, who has not studied medicine, who does not write the often incomplete and illegible medical record, who does not receive a certificate after a visit, will have to reconstruct precisely and without gaps with these tools all the facts”, says Tonino Aceti, national coordinator of the Tribunal for the rights of the patient. “Are we really sure he can do it? If the answer is no, as is evident and as anyone who has had an experience of illness can understand, we ask for an act of responsibility and for the vote against.
If Parliament decides to offload the burden of proof onto the citizen, at this point, it cannot avoid making the installation of video-surveillance systems at the same time compulsory in every room of all the Healthcare Structures, to truly put the patient in the conditions of prove everything that happened. We don't want it to go that far."
Dr. Raffaele Zinno, SiSMLA National Secretary, reiterates that "we are not at all convinced by the non-contractual liability for doctors as, for the same event, there would be two different legal cases that would have difficulty coordinating their application with particular regard to the recourse action of healthcare structures" "It is necessary, among other things - continues Zinno - to review the professional figure of risk manager who evidently cannot and must not be unjustifiably linked to a single specialization but to correctly trained professionals who have followed a specific path formative. It is also necessary to review the audit part as it is not exhaustive”.
January 25, 2016 – Active Citizenship
Related news: DdL: Provisions on the subject of professional liability of healthcare personnel.
