Law 24/2017 and the medico-legal role in a self-retention system: Medical malpractice in the ligurian regional policy

Among the various national regions that have already identified self-protection measures in case of claims of alleged medical fault, the Liguria Region had provided-by the end of 2011- A coverage system characterized by a single regional fund, the presence of a loss-adjuster, claims settlement and the management of "reserves". In such a system, the medico legal role becomes necessarily significant in assessing compensation after claims received by Regional Health Companies. Particularly, it deserves two guarantees: On the one hand, public money disbursements (those allocated in the regional fund) are adequately justified in the overall assessment of both "an debeatur" and "quantum debeatur", and on the other hand the right of the injured party to be compensated in a timely manner is respected. These aspects have been further emphasized by Law 24/2017 (also known as "Gelli-Bianco" Decree), which institutionally involves medico legal specialists in the task of protecting public money being part of the regional guarantee fund, at the same time safeguarding the image of Health Companies themselves in the event of litigation. Moreover, the law legitimates the interests of the suspected injured party without compromising the good name of the health operators or improperly exposing them to the risk of reprisal. In this context, the Liguria Region, with its medico legal Services, represents a model that has provided good results both in terms of resources (included in the regional fund) management and in terms of speed of litigations resolution. In conclusion, it only remains to understand how the enforcement decrees of Law 24/2017 will affect a reality that has proven-to date- A good functioning and is directed to fruitful consolidation.