Jordan passes medical liability bill
The Lower House of the Jordan Parliament recently passed the medical and health liability draft law for the year 2016.
Under the bill, a medical and health liability insurance fund will be set up at the Higher Health Council, which obliges a licensed medical or health facility to insure the service providers working with it. The management of the fund and all related matters will be determined under a special regulation issued for this purpose.
Under the draft, the Ministry of Health will prepare a chart of licensed medical and health professionals and classify them according to professional levels in coordination with the relevant syndicate of any medical and health professions.
The Ministry also establishes a formal record of medical errors in respect of which judicial decisions have been issued to be included therein, and the information contained in the register shall be “confidential” and may not be disclosed except in cases specified by the law.
The bill defines a medical error as “any act, omission or negligence committed by the service provider, inconsistent with the valid professional rules within the available working environment and resulting in harm”.
The lawmakers endorsed a stipulation in the draft that the life of a recipient of the service, for any reason, should not be terminated, even at his request or the request of his parent or guardian, and also prohibits the removal of life support equipment unless the heart or breathing stops completely, or all functions of the brain cease completely according to accurate medical criteria and the doctors’ report that this stop is irreversible.
The law prohibits the removal of a recipient of service from the place where the service is being provided, subject to the provisions for the control of communicable diseases, unless the condition of the recipient of service allows it in accordance with the customary principles or in case of transfer to another place for completion of the treatment, provided that the proper health transfer requirements are available, or at the request of the recipient of service if he is fully competent, despite him being cautioned against the consequences of discharge, or with the written consent of a doctor at the place where the service is provided if the recipient of the service is incompetent or incapacitated, and by the approval of his parent or guardian. And, no person shall be kept without medical justification within the place where service is provided, according to a report by the Jordan News Agency.
