[Overview of medical errors]

The physician is under the legal obligation to his patient to conduct a professional treatment that is optimally suited to obtain the wanted recovery. A violation of this and the equally existing obligation to observe the due diligence is termed malpractice. The degree of diligence necessary is determined in accordance to the behaviour deemed the standard in certain circles of conscientious and attentive physicians or specialists. The virtual knowledge and capability of the single physician is not referred to. The relevant standard of diligence as well as the medical standard do not affect the doctor's free choice of treatment but they set the conditions under which an alternative therapy deviating from the standard can be resorted to. Malpractice can be classified into different groups of instances, i.e. diagnostic mistake/violation of the obligation to put down a record of the examination's results, bad choice of therapy, or inadequate organization. A particular example of such inadequate organization is the performance of an operation by an inexperienced physician. Provided that a correction of the damage to health or its expansion/manifestation can be prevented the doctor is legally compelled to reveal the malpractice to his or her patient. If the malpractice causes any injury to the patient's health damages can be requested on the basis of contractual as well as tort claims including compensation for suffering from injuries itself. Apart from the consequences related to civil law malpractice can entail repercussions under penal law. To avoid the reproach of behaviour in contradiction to the exigencies of due diligence every physician is required to ask himself the question whether he possesses the professional abilities to conduct the requisite treatment. Furthermore, he has constantly to strive for a continuation of his profession-related learning.