The patient, the medical practitioner and the hospital – The core of the noncontractual civil liability in medical malpractice, based on guilt

Abstract

This article analyses the legal regime of noncontractual civil liability, based on guilt, applicable to hospitals controlled by the Portuguese State and to medical practitioners from such hospitals, in cases of medical malpractice. For that purpose, the requirements of noncontractual liability will be considered from a practical point of view comparing the Portuguese legal regime with the Portuguese Court’s decisions which have applied it.