MEDICAL ACCIDENT LIABILITY AND REDRESS IN ENGLISH AND FRENCH LAW

Transcription

1 MEDICAL ACCIDENT LIABILITY AND REDRESS IN ENGLISH AND FRENCH LAW In 2002 France introduced an out-of-court settlement scheme for medical accidents. The scheme guarantees compensation for the victims of the most serious medical accidents irrespective of fault and operates in parallel with existing liability rules. In this book compares English and French law on medical accident liability and redress, and considers what lessons the French model can provide for potential reform in England and elsewhere. Taylor emphasizes the effect of the English and French rules on access to compensation and on the cost of liability, and examines the problems that have been posed by the introduction of an administrative redress scheme in France. This book looks at the potential consequences of English and French rules for the doctor patient relationship and for patient safety, and considers the role that national legal traditions and cultures of civil liability in England and France play in shaping national law in this area. simon taylor is a senior lecturer at the Université Paris Diderot. He also teaches at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, and at the University of Bergamo, Italy. A member of the Sorbonne Institute of Legal Research and the European Research Group on Civil Liability and Insurance, he is a contributor to projects for the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law, Vienna.

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3 MEDICAL ACCIDENT LIABILITY AND REDRESS IN ENGLISH AND FRENCH LAW SIMON TAYLOR

4 University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. Information on this title: / This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2015 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Taylor, Simon, 1966 author. Medical accident liability and redress in English and French law /. pages cm Includes index. ISBN (Hardback) 1. Medical personnel Malpractice England. 2. Medical personnel Malpractice France. I. Title. KJC1674.T dc ISBN Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

5 CONTENTS List of abbreviations Note on references Introduction 1 page vii x 1. The state of medical accident liability and redress in England 8 Medical accident liability and redress in England today 9 Reforming medical accident liability and redress law in England 10 Conclusion Medical accident liability and redress in France: a comparative analysis 24 The civil and administrative liability rules 28 Liability of the medical profession in criminal law 49 The administrative compensation scheme 53 Additional compensation schemes run by ONIAM 58 Conclusion Differing cultures of civil liability 61 Differing traditions of civil liability in France and England 61 Differing cultures of civil liability 65 Conclusion The cost of medical accident redress 76 The cost of medical accident redress in France 76 The relevance of the French experience for English law 85 Conclusion Problems posed by the French administrative compensation scheme 93 The categorization of victims in French medical accident compensation law 96 v

6 vi table of contents Uncertainty in defining the boundaries of the liability and redress rules 98 Inconsistency in decision-making 104 Justifying the categorization of claims 106 Does the administrative compensation scheme treat victims fairly? 108 Analysis and comparison with English law 112 Conclusion Shaping the doctor patient relationship through civil liability law 117 Recognition of patient autonomy through informed consent to treatment 118 Appeasing the doctor patient relationship through a duty of candour 137 The effect of the out-of-court settlement scheme on the doctor patient relationship 143 Conclusion Medical accident liability and redress: promoting patient safety? 150 Civil liability as a deterrent to medical accidents 152 Civil liability and learning from medical accidents 156 The effect of the French administrative compensation scheme on patient safety 166 Conclusion 169 General conclusion 172 Index 179

7 ABBREVIATIONS AC Appeal Cases aff. Affaire All ER All England Law Reports AN Assemblée Nationale AP-HP Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris APIL Association of Personal Injury Lawyers Art. Article Ass. Plén. Assemblée plénière B. Bulletin civil BCT Bureau central de tarification BMA British Medical Association BMJ British Medical Journal BMLR Butterworths Medico-Legal Reports CA Court of Appeal CAA Cour administrative d appel CAC Constitutional Affairs Committee Cass. Cour de cassation Cass. civ. (1) Cour de cassation, 1re chambre civile. Cass. crim. Cour de cassation, chambre criminelle CE Conseil d Etat Cm Command paper (1986 ) Cmnd Command paper ( ) CNAMed Commission nationale des accidents médicaux Comm. Commentaire Concl. Conclusions CRCI Commission régional de conciliation et d indemnisation CRU Compensation Recovery Unit D. Dalloz DP. Recueil périodique et critique Dalloz Doctr. Doctrinal DREES Direction de la recherche, des études, de l évaluation et des statistiques vii

8 viii abbreviations ECR European Court Reports EFTA European Free Trade Association EIG Evénements indésirables graves EN England EU European Union EWCA England and Wales Court of Appeal EWCA civ. England and Wales Court of Appeal, civil division EWHC England and Wales High Court FCE Finished Consultant Episode GDP Gross Domestic Product GMC General Medical Council HC House of Commons HL House of Lords HMSO Her Majesty s Stationery Office IDS Institut des données de santé INSEE Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques IGAS Inspection générale des affaires sociales IR Informations rapides JCP G Jurisclasseur périodique, La semaine juridique, édition générale KCE Centre fédérale d expertise des soins de santé (Belgium) LGDJ Librairie Générale de Droit et de Jurisprudence Lloyd s Rep. Med. Lloyd s Law Reports Medical LR Law Reports LTJ Law Times Journal MACSF Mutuelle d assurances du corps de santé français Med. LR Medical Law Reports MP Member of Parliament NHS National Health Service NHSLA National Health Service Litigation Authority NPSA National Patient Safety Agency Obs. observations OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OJ Official Journal ONIAM Office national d indemnisation des accidents médicaux PUF Presses universitaires de France QB Queen s Bench Rapp. Rapport Rec. Recueil Reg. Regulation RMM Revue de mortalité et de morbidité RTD civ. Revue trimestrielle de droit civil S. Sirey

9 abbreviations ix SAE Statistique annuelle des établissements de santé SHAM Société hospitalière d assurances mutuelles SI Statutory Instrument Somm. Sommaires TA Tribunal administratif T. confl. Tribunal des conflits TGI Tribunal de grande instance TSO The Stationery Office UKHL United Kingdom House of Lords UKSC United Kingdom Supreme Court W. Wales WLR Weekly Law Reports

10 NOTE ON REFERENCES Footnote references to articles provide the number of the first page, rather than full page ranges: this is standard practice with respect to French sources. The same approach has been adopted for English references in order to ensure consistency of presentation. x