[The penalization of the medical domain]

The increasing penalisation of caring professions in France has not spared the medical and paramedical worlds. The growing number of classified offences, the ever-increasing recourse to associations to present claims, and society's need to identify a culprit rather than a cause for each dysfunction, all contribute to the development of this trend. A phenomenon that is dangerous because it blurs the distinction between criminal liability, normally used only to designate dangerous behaviour, and civil liability, which can result in damage payment. The new and somewhat vague notion of the "precautionary principle" could lead to an even greater range of legal proceedings and thus bring about a standstill situation characterised by abstention. It is proposed to reserve legal action only for those cases that arouse moral disapproval. This would mean modifying the articles of criminal law that sanction the crimes of manslaughter and accidental bodily harm by introducing the notions of a direct link and serious or deliberate offence in order to facilitate the instigation of proceedings.