The issue of delivery room infections in the Italian law. A brief comparative study with English and French jurisprudence

AbstractDelivery room infections are frequent, and many of them could be avoided through higher standards of care. The authors examine this issue by comparing it to English and French reality. Unlike England, in Italy and France the relationship established between health facility, physician and patient is outlined in a contract. In England, the judges’ decisions converge toward a better and higher protection of the patient–the actor–and facilitate the probative task.In case of infections, including those occurring in the delivery room, three issues are evaluated: the hospital’s negligent conduct, damages if any and causal nexus. Therefore, the hospital must demonstrate to have taken the appropriate asepsis measures according to current scientific knowledge concerning not only treatment, but also diagnosis, previous activities, surgery and post-surgery.In order to avoid a negative sentence, both physicians and hospital have to demonstrate their correct behavior and that the infection was caused by an unfo...