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Book 2 · Law of obligations  ›  Subtitle 2 · Treatment contract › Section 630h

Burden of proof in case of liability for malpractice and errors in providing information

(1) An error is to be presumed to have been committed by the treating party if a general treatment risk has materialised that was fully manageable for the treating party and that led to injury to the life, limb or health of the patient.

(2) The treating party is to prove that they obtained consent in accordance with section 630d and provided information in accordance with the requirements of section 630e. If the information does not comply with the requirements of section 630e, then the treating party may assert that the patient would have consented to the measure also if proper information had been provided.

(3) Where the treating party has not recorded a medically required major measure and its result in the medical records, contrary to what is stipulated in section 630f (1) or (2), or where, contrary to section 630f (3), they have not retained the medical records, it is to be presumed that they have not carried out this measure.

(4) If a treating party was not qualified to carry out the treatment they performed, it is presumed that the lack of qualification was the cause of the occurrence of the injury to life, limb or health.

(5) If gross malpractice has been committed, and if this is susceptible as a matter of principle to cause an injury to life, limb or health of the nature that in fact took place, it is to be presumed that the malpractice was the cause of this injury. This applies also if the treating party failed to gain, in good time, an understanding of a condition as medically required, or to record the findings obtained, insofar as there is a sufficient degree of probability that the finding would have led to a result which would have given rise to further measures, and if failure to take such measures would have constituted gross malpractice.

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