The Observer, Sunday 6 December 2009
will in future have to log every time a patient is
harmed or dies while receiving treatment."
But, is this a loophole
that needs to be looked after?
A European Court of Human Rights decision.
"Whilst it was arguable that doctors had a duty not to falsify medical records under the common law (Sir Donaldson MR’s “duty of candour”), before Powell v Boladz there was no binding decision of the courts as to the existence of such a duty. As the law stands now, however, doctors have no duty to give the parents of a child who died as a result of their negligence a truthful account of the circumstances of the death, nor even to refrain from deliberately falsifying records."
The decision can be accessed from this page searching for "decision" and "application no. 45305/99" to see -