Professional liability, bill under consideration by the Senate

Physician and patient, a possible alliance? Proposals for good reform". This was the title of the conference held yesterday at the Ordine dei Medici in Rome to discuss the Gelli bill, currently being considered by the Senate, which will reform the professional liability of health professionals.

It is not accompanied by the clamor of the Cirinnà ddl but it is nonetheless a long-awaited piece of legislation, at least for a decade, whose purpose is to guarantee the safety of care as a constituent part of the right to health, through greater guarantees and protections for professionals in the health field on the one hand, and greater certainty and speed in compensation for damages suffered by patients on the other. The’current regulatory framework either pushes health care professionals to prescribe assessments with the sole prospect of avoiding "risk-judgment" or results in flight from professional fields such as surgery and gynecology. The harm that follows such a phenomenon, now known as defensive medicine, is manifold: for the health care provider, inhibited in the performance of his or her functions; for the patient, subjected to invasive even if avoidable investigations; for the taxpayer, because defensive medicine weighs on the community in terms of costs. This reform, filling a legislative vacuum, aims to balance the need for health protection with those of the right to care and the freedom of conscience of doctors and professionals. "The reform passed in the House represents a long-awaited achievement by all health professions professionals, focusing on preventing health care error, increasing guarantees for patients and restoring dignity to health professionals." so Federico Gelli, speaker of the Law in Parliament. The conference was organized by the Cultural Association Alternativa Europea chaired by Olimpia Troili who stressed, "The Italian state spends 13 billion a year on unnecessary examinations.

A very substantial sum if we think that the emergency clause on migrants, included in the stability law, in bargaining with the European Commission is worth 3.1 billion in flexibility. The big bet of this reform is to create a clear regulatory framework capable of discouraging the very costly use of defensive medicine". Also speaking was regional councilor Michele Baldi, Chief Whip of the Zingaretti List, who pointed out the regional repercussions of the absence of an organic text on the subject: "The regions currently bear the brunt of health care spending. Countering defensive medicine means reducing unnecessary and harmful spending for patients and, at the same time, improving service by alleviating the cost to taxpayers". Undersecretaries also spoke Vito de Filippo e Cosimo Ferri, jurists Guido Alpa e Domenico Pittella and Dr.

Roberto Lala, President of the Order of Physicians of Rome.