Legal medical liability of physicians working for emergency medical services

Abstract

A study on the legal liability of physicians working for the SAMU and SMUR emergency medical services was carried out based on a retrospective assessment of all the accidents involving the intervention of medical staff, recorded between 1994 and 1999 by the Sou Medical. During this period, a total of 15 claims were made concerning physicians who acted either in a transporting capacity (ten claims) or in a regulatory capacity (five claims). In the majority of cases (12 out of 15 cases), the claim followed legal proceedings. In two other cases, it was submitted after a verbal or written complaint; in one case, it was spontaneously submitted by a physician following the accidental death of a patient during transport, without any complaint being made by the victim's family. The medico-legal repercussions of the 15 accidents reported in the study were only known in 11 cases, as in the remaining cases there were ongoing legal proceedings. None of the 11 cases involved conviction for any of the doctors concerned. In particular, the criminal lawsuits brought against three regulators and three transporters led to closure of the file (two instances) or to dismissal of the case (four instances). In contrast to the high ratio of criminal lawsuits initiated by the patients, in this series of 15 accidents the fact that no doctor was sentenced by the court reflects a degree of partiality on the part of the judges towards the doctors involved in emergency medical service activity. (C) 2000 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.