[Alcoholic patients: legal responsibility of physicians]

The liability rising from medical cares given to a patient suffering from an addiction to alcohol does not differ from those stemming from cares to other pathologies. The cares must be relevant with regard to state of art, an information as comprehensive as possible must be provided to the patient, on the investigations to be carried out, as well as on the treatments considered. The most difficult thing to achieve is to obtain a full co-operation of the patient, who since the law of March 4, 2002, has the right to refuse a treatment, which cannot be imposed to him. Safeguarding the medical secrecy in particular with regard to the family can be difficult, because of the pressures exerted to obtain the revelation from it. But this revelation of the medical secrecy is authorized by the law only within very precise limits. In very specific circumstances, a doctor can be liable for a criminal offence made by his patient, for instance when he does not prevent his patient to drive a car, while he is obviously drunk.