Rechtsentwicklungen in Deutschland

The Development of Medical Liability in Germany, 1800–1945

“…In a chapter entitled 'Kunstfehler und Sorgfaltspflichtverletzung' 1526 he conceded the Bundesgerichtshof had adopted the pre-war definition, 1527 but-cribbing heavily from Bockelmann-stressed its disutility where there were no generally accepted rules and emphasised that an existing medical consensus in favour of a particular course of action could not satisfy a practitioner's responsibility to assess in each situation whether it was merited or not. 1528 Indeed, the Bundesgerichtshof was in the process of developing a body of case law, perhaps overgenerously described as substantial by Laufs, 1529 repeatedly confirming that liability could arise despite the absence of any breach of the accepted medical rules by the defendant and unpacking the normative standard of care that would be expected from medical practitioners.…”