No-Fault Compensation in the Health-Care Sector

Introduction

The research agency of the Dutch Ministry of Healthcare has issued a research project concerning the possibility to introduce a no-fault compensation scheme for damage caused through medical malpractice in the Netherlands. The Dutch policy maker was primarily interested in damage caused as a result of human material (such as infected blood) and wished to know whether a specific liability regime (strict or fault liability) and specific compensation mechanisms should be introduced for this type of harm. However, the Dutch policy makers were equally interested in the question whether a no-fault compensation scheme would generally be possible to cover all damage resulting from medical malpractice. This study is based upon these guidelines and intends to present and outline the most important arguments in a comparative perspective.

Framework  

This project was initiated by ZorgOnderzoek Nederland (ZON) (Netherlands). The project is carried out by co-operation of ECTIL with the Maastricht European Institute of Transnational Legal Research (METRO) and the Health Law Centre of the University of Maastricht (Netherlands).