ABSTRACT
In France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and Greece, the general principle is that physicians are not liable for ‘slight negligence’. This view has been supported in the French lower courts, Swiss law (see BG 20 Feb 1940, 12 Dec 1961, BGE 87 II 372), in Italian case law in emergencies and serious cases, and in Art 2236 of the Italian Civil Code relating to intellectual professions, and in the German Civil Code. In para 680 of the said German Code, it stipulates that a person who acts in an emergency with a view to averting a hazard to another person shall be liable only for fraud or gross negligence, not for slight negligence. A similar provision is to be found in Art 732 of the Greek Civil Code. As Tunc explains, this principle takes account of the ‘nature of emergency conditions under which the medical practitioner has to perform his functions and the unforeseeable circumstances and factors involved’ (Tunc (1973), p 14).
