Our lawyers put their legal skills at your service in order to provide answers to the questions raised and solutions to the issues encountered in the field of health law.
We represent healthcare professionals in the medical and paramedical sectors in mainland France and overseas.
Our experience in the field of medical liability allows us to work effectively alongside appointed medical advisers.
The general principles underpinning medical liability were established by the provisions of the Kouchner Law of 4 March 2002, which introduced the principle of fault-based liability and the duty of care incumbent on healthcare professionals.
Under the French Public Health Code, there are three types of healthcare professionals:
In order to hold a healthcare professional liable, it is up to the person making the claim to provide proof of fault, injury and a causal link.
When practitioners are employed by an establishment, whether public or private, only the structure in which they work may be held liable before the courts or administrative tribunals.
We assist and represent the various organisations before the courts and administrative tribunals in metropolitan and overseas France, as well as before the Conciliation and Compensation Commissions for Medical Accidents, Iatrogenic Affections and Nosocomial Infections (CCI- Commission de Conciliation et d’Indemnisation des Accidents Médicaux des Affections Iatrogènes et des Infections Nosocomiales)
We also represent our clients before the councils of the various professions (French National Board of Physicians (Ordre des Médecins), French National Board of Pharmacists (Ordre des pharmaciens), French National Board of Midwives (Ordre des sages femmes), French National Board of Physiotherapists (Ordre des masseurs kinésithérapeutes), and French National Board of Nurses (Ordre des infirmières)) as part of disciplinary proceedings.
In all of these proceedings, we support our clients, particularly in drafting pleadings and assisting with medical expertise, keeping them informed of the progress made at each stage of the proceedings.
The liability of healthcare professionals is subject to a limitation period of 10 years from the date of consolidation of the damage.
Our lawyers specialising in the defence of the medical and paramedical professions are available to assist you in Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Lyon, Montpellier, Nice, Nîmes and Paris.
Medical expertise is the keystone and first essential stage of any procedure in which the liability of healthcare professionals is at stake.
We offer all healthcare professionals the benefit of our expertise in the field of medical liability, not only in the context of medico-legal discussions during the expert appraisal, but also in the exchange of observations in the form of statements with the expert and other parties before the expert delivers his final conclusions.
It is essential to be assisted by a lawyer with experience in this field in order to avoid the pitfalls associated with expert reports, which could be detrimental to healthcare professionals during the subsequent stages of the procedure.
The expert’s report will serve as the basis for discussion before the courts, and it is therefore essential that all of the practitioners’ arguments are debated beforehand in adversarial proceedings before the expert.
In principle, the first stage of the procedure is to refer the matter to the court in the form of a summary expert report, after which the court will appoint one or more experts.
Once the appraisal has been carried out and the report has been submitted, the claimant may bring a claim for compensation before the competent court.
We are involved at every stage in defending our clients’ interests, representing them, setting up a line of defence, drafting the pleadings and supporting the case at the oral hearing.
When a self-employed healthcare professional is summoned to appear before a court of law, we assist him or her at every stage in order to represent him or her, set up a line of defence, draft the pleadings and support the case at the oral hearing.
If the practitioner is employed within a public or private organisation, only the establishment’s liability can be sought before the judicial or administrative courts, depending on the status of the establishment.
CCIs are Conciliation and Compensation Commissions for Medical Accidents, Iatrogenic Affections and Nosocomial Infections.
They are an alternative to judicial or administrative proceedings and were initially set up to relieve the courts of their workload.
We assist doctors at every stage of this amicable procedure, from the patient’s referral to the Commission, right through to the opinion.
In concrete terms, the first stage of this procedure is the carrying out of an expert appraisal by doctors appointed by the Commission.
We attend this assessment alongside our clients and their medical advisers, putting our expertise in medico-legal matters at the service of their interests.
The expert report is then discussed at a hearing before the Commission.
On this occasion, we put forward our arguments in the interests of the practitioners in order to support the line of defence prepared in advance with our clients.
When healthcare professionals are summoned to appear before the various disciplinary bodies (French National Board of Physicians (Ordre des Médecins), French National Board of Pharmacists (Ordre des pharmaciens), French National Board of Midwives (Ordre des sages femmes), French National Board of Physiotherapists (Ordre des masseurs kinésithérapeutes), and French National Board of Nurses (Ordre des infirmières) by a patient, a colleague or a third party, we represent them at all stages of the proceedings.
In practice, these procedures often begin with a conciliation phase and, if this fails, continue with the forwarding of the complaint and the referral of the case to the disciplinary chamber of first instance, which will hand down a decision that may be appealed.
The range of sanctions that can be imposed on practitioners are, from the mildest to the most severe:
