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Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research®
Published in: Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research® 2/2009

01-02-2009 | Symposium: Clinical Risk and Judicial Reasoning

Medical Malpractice: The Experience in Italy

Author: Francesco Traina, MD

Published in: Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research® | Issue 2/2009

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Abstract

At the present time, legal actions against physicians in Italy number about 15,000 per year, and hospitals spend over €10 billion (~US$15.5 billion) to compensate patients injured from therapeutic and diagnostic errors. In a survey summary issued by the Italian Court for the Rights of the Patient, between 1996 and 2000 orthopaedic surgery was the highest-ranked specialty for the number of complaints alleging medical malpractice. Today among European countries, Italy has the highest number of physicians subject to criminal proceedings related to medical malpractice, a fact that is profoundly changing physicians’ approach to medical practice. The national health system has paid increasingly higher insurance premiums and is having difficulty finding insurance companies willing to bear the risk of monetary claims alleging medical malpractice. Healthcare costs will likely worsen as Italian physicians increasingly practice defensive medicine, thereby overutilizing resources with the goal of documenting diligence, prudence, and skill as defenses against potential litigation, rather than aimed at any patient benefit. To reduce the practice of defensive medicine and healthcare costs, a possible solution could be the introduction of an extrajudicial litigation resolution, as in other civil law countries, and a reform of the Italian judicial system on matters of medical malpractice litigation.
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Metadata
Title
Medical Malpractice: The Experience in Italy
Author
Francesco Traina, MD
Publication date
01-02-2009
Publisher
Springer-Verlag
Published in
Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research® / Issue 2/2009
Print ISSN: 0009-921X
Electronic ISSN: 1528-1132
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-008-0582-z

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