[Blood transfusion: medicolegal aspects (author's transl)]

Blood transfusion is a procedure in which it is oncumbent on the attendant doctor to undertake appropriate enlightenment of the patient, obtain the patient's consent, define the precise indications and perform the task with technical proficiency. The doctor undertaking blood transfusion must be acquainted with the legal basis and be aware of the legal aspects which free him from these obligations in exceptional cases. Since the urgency of transfusion varies from case to case the following classification is posed: normal cases, special cases, urgent cases and emergency cases. In view of the lack of legal guiding principles, the basic requirements for the correct procedure in each of the four groups are clearly drawn up in tabular form. Moreover, advice is given in the event of fatal complications on the basis of a discussion of the causative factors and legal consequences involved in 20 cases which came to autopsy by order of the coroner.