[Medical responsibility in the public hospital environment]

Patients can take action against physicians in front of different courts: Penal or Administrative Courts. Most of the time, the counsel chooses the legal proceedings. In the past, it was always necessary to prove the existence of malpractice; today, since 1990, the Administrative Court admits that it is no more necessary to find a malpractice, a damage and a link between the both. The medical expert valuation takes an important place in this matter. Nevertheless, the magistrate is not bound by the expert's report. In the last ten years several decisions have changed the usual rules in the matter of medical liability. Actually, in some special cases the Administrative Court admit a medical responsibility without malpractice, and so judges speak of medical risk.