Compensation liability in healthcare is legally provided for cases of medical (professional) errors. When the conduct of a doctor or health (co)worker did not meet the standards of due skill, an expert with comparable skills, using his expertise, shall describe the content of the standard required. If the practice followed the accepted medical doctrine, the doctor or medical (co)worker can not be critised for the patient's state of health as it is due to the course of a disease itself. More recent case-law assesses the doctor-patient relationship on the basis of an agreement, only exceptionally, however, the liability is established on the basis of a delict. The assumptions that must be cumulatively fulfilled in order to establish liability for damages on one or another basis are the same. The injury must be proved by the injured party on the grounds of guilt, the exculpatory reasons must be proved by the doctor or the medical establishment in which the person concerned is employed. Due to the unequal position of the doctor or the medical establishment vis-a-vis the patient, the case-law has made the situation easier for the latter in such a way that in order to demonstrate, they must satisfy the standard of proof of the threshold of a particular probability. Accordingly, it can be concluded that the alleged fact is the most likely the cause of the alleged in-law event. Close connection consists of explanatory duty and consent of the patient. Only if the explanatory duty is properly fulfilled, the patient's consent is valid and it deprives the usual unjustified infringement with the physical and mental integrity protected by Article 35 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia.
|