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Fears of increased medical litigation in France often exaggerated

French healthcare professionals are worried about increased litigation. This fear is created more by huge increases in insurance premiums than by a massive rise in the number of claims.

Prosecution of healthcare professionals is not a recent phenomenon: there are examples in France going back to the 17th century. Gradually, as medicine became more of a science, and at the same time civil and penal liability developed, errors for which doctors could be held liable were defined. We have seen a gradual move from liability due to serious error or negligence, with the burden of proof on the patient, to an obligation for the healthcare professional to deliver results in some fields, as well as seeing claims for “no fault” damages, or “loss of chance”.

This development in legal relations between doctor and patient has led to new patient rights. These should be understood within the broader framework of increased human rights on the one hand, and more legislation governing social relations on the other.

The widespread feeling that there is a rise in litigation against the medical profession is part of an often exaggerated fear on the part of healthcare professionals, reinforced in some specialist medical fields by huge increases in health insurance premiums. The level of fear is hugely disproportionate to the actual rise in the number of court cases, which is negligible in France.

In practice, there are other channels in France for claiming compensation for hospital-acquired injuries or infection, thanks to the regional conciliation and compensation boards (Commissions régionales de conciliation et d'indemnisation des accidents médicaux – CRCI), and the state medical injury compensation board (Office national d'indemnisation des accidents médicaux – ONIAM).

©Prescrire August 2010

Source: "Judiciarisation de la médecine : réalité ou idée reçue" Rev Prescrire 2010; 30 (321): 536-541.