Defensive practices caused by the fear of malpractice claims are widely cited as a factor contributing to the changes observed recently in obstetrics. This paper investigates on the most important legal problems in Italy related to this field. An update of references was per- formed in order to estimate the trend of penal and civil claims in Italy. Therefore some specific legal controversies in obstetrics have been discussed: the legal status of the fetus, the consensus for the method of delivery, the legitimacy of women’s requests for a cesarean without medical indications and for tubal ligation during a cesarean. Italian official data do not support the hypothesis of an increase of penal and civil claims; moreover the cost for Italian insurance premiums (an indirect index 01 total amount paid by insurance companies for claims) has been remaining stable for the past 15 years. Nevertheless the increase of defensive practices are reported by many obstetricians in Italy; these behaviours could be probably caused by the fear of a damage to the professional image following the spread of news about not desiderable medical events through popular press.
Problemi giuridici connessi con le modalità di espletamento del parto in Italia
PETRELLI, Fabio
1993-01-01
Abstract
Defensive practices caused by the fear of malpractice claims are widely cited as a factor contributing to the changes observed recently in obstetrics. This paper investigates on the most important legal problems in Italy related to this field. An update of references was per- formed in order to estimate the trend of penal and civil claims in Italy. Therefore some specific legal controversies in obstetrics have been discussed: the legal status of the fetus, the consensus for the method of delivery, the legitimacy of women’s requests for a cesarean without medical indications and for tubal ligation during a cesarean. Italian official data do not support the hypothesis of an increase of penal and civil claims; moreover the cost for Italian insurance premiums (an indirect index 01 total amount paid by insurance companies for claims) has been remaining stable for the past 15 years. Nevertheless the increase of defensive practices are reported by many obstetricians in Italy; these behaviours could be probably caused by the fear of a damage to the professional image following the spread of news about not desiderable medical events through popular press.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
