Criminal liability in a medical context: the Italian law’s approach

di Stefano Canestrari -

The Italian legal system has been for many years at the forefront of the patients’ protection from medical malpractice. This has led medical practitioners to engage in defensive medicine, in order to compensate for their overexposure to legal disputes. From 2012, the Italian legislator has tried to lighten the practitioners’ criminal liability, by emending in their favour the discipline concerning negligence. These amendments have though raised several critical issues, in particular in the reference they make to the ambiguous parameter of medical guidelines; indeed, the respect of the guidelines is now a necessary condition for the application of such favourable disciplin...