[Medico-legal controversies in obstetrics and gynecology: an important current problem]

Medicolegal controversies have recently grown to alarming proportions, also in relation to the increasingly widespread use of insurance policies and the doctor's compulsory need to obtain the patient's informed consent. According to current juridical attitudes, a surgeon carrying out surgery without the patient's consent may be guilty of severe damage or premeditated manslaughter in the event that the patient is injured. Some aspects of the relating to obstetrics-gynecology which have been the subject of recent medico-legal controversies are discussed in this paper. The authors underline the role played by the official expert and the need for the latter to be professionally up-to-date on the subject which he is called upon to judge.