compromising the obligation to due diligence. The courts, for example,
decided that the physician should ensure good quality of the device he uses
in oral rehabilitation or dental implant. The court’s decision was that “if the
physician’s obligation in a dental surgery is limited to due diligence, he
should achieve the expected result”. This means that he should use reliable
materials and supplies in dental implants. The court implemented this rule
with respect to diseases arising from blood transfusion by binding the blood
transfusion center to guarantee the safety of the patients concerned. This
allows for compensation of the patients suffering from AIDS or hepatitis due
to contracting an infection while undergoing blood transfusion within the
medical facility.14 The French courts issued three rulings holding hospitals
accountable for nosocomial infections since hospitals are responsible for
ensuring the safety of the patients against any hospital-acquired disease.
They also have an obligation to ensure the safety of the patient in
compliance with the following provisions: 1) the contractual relationship
between the hospital and the patient during the stay as an in-patient provides
that the hospital is responsible for ensuring protection for the patient against
hospital-acquired disease and cannot disclaim such responsibility unless an
external cause for an infection is proven; 2) the physician should give
information to the patient about the risks of the therapeutic intervention; and
3) the physical should be liable for a nosocomial infection unless an external
cause for the infection is proven.15
The Role of the Legislature in Developing a Legal Infrastructure for Medical
Malpractice Issues
The intervention of law-makers to draft provisions of law regulating the
relationship between the patient and the physician, especially in regard to medical
malpractice, has become necessary. This additionally applies to healthcare
professionals other than physicians when they also have cases of malpractice. Such
provisions are necessary for the regulating of relationships instead of keeping cases
of medical malpractice subjected to strictly juridical interpretations which might
contradict each other.
Some jurists and legal specialists claim that such law could be futile because the
general provisions of law allow for holding accountable any professional breaching
14
15
See Qasim.
Abdulhameed, p. 137.
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