Journal article

Publication year: 2014

Pages: 263-271

Journal: Rechtsmedizin

Volume number: 24

Issue number: 4

ISSN: 0937-9819

eISSN: 1434-5196

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00194-014-0960-7

Publisher: Springer

Abstract: 
The Patient Rights Act (PatRG) which came into force in 2013 as article law, provides several new additions to the German Civil Code (BGB). Among the disclosure requirements according to section 630c (2) sentence 2 and 3 BGB, the obligations of the attending physician were codified such as to inform the patient about own treatment errors or those of others on demand or to prevent health risks. For the physician circumstances must be perceptible which substantiate the assumption of such a treatment error. In criminal or monetary fine proceedings involving the physician or relatives according to the listing in section 52 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedures, disclosure of this information depends on the consent of the physician. On the basis of the foundations of the Act the intentions of the law maker are explained and the norm is discussed taking into account the recent literature and jurisdiction. It remains doubtful whether the obligation to disclose under restricted usability is in accordance with the principle of freedom against self-incrimination (nemo tenetur se ipsum accusare) in the proceedings mentioned. Moreover, it is not obvious who is obliged to disclose treatment errors in a hospital setting and whether this information should be given to the relatives after the patient's death.

Harvard Citation style: Parzeller, M., Gaede, H., Dettmeyer, R., Zedler, B. and Bockholdt, B. (2014) Obligation to disclose treatment errors according to the Patient Rights Act, Rechtsmedizin, 24(4), pp. 263-271. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00194-014-0960-7

APA Citation style: Parzeller, M., Gaede, H., Dettmeyer, R., Zedler, B., & Bockholdt, B. (2014). Obligation to disclose treatment errors according to the Patient Rights Act. Rechtsmedizin. 24(4), 263-271. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00194-014-0960-7