Medical malpractice and its criminal and civil consequences

Abstract

The paper examines medical error and its criminal and civil implications, starting from the premise that error is a constant feature of human life and that medicine, among the professions, is most exposed to such fallibility. Drawing on comparative law, particularly Spanish and Italian, together with national doctrine and case law, the author distinguishes negligence from intent, examines imprudence, negligence, and malpractice as forms of fault, and discusses medical team liability under the principles of trust and division of labor. He concludes that, in criminal matters, conviction requires absolute certainty of authorship and gross error, with in dubio pro reo prevailing, whereas in civil matters the objective risk theory has been supplanting fault-based liability, leading the author to recommend socializing medical risk through insurance.