Lydia Velliscig
Ricercatore di Diritto privato comparato
Scuola Universitaria Superiore IUSS-Pavia
ABSTRACT
The Italian law on Medical Liability – Law n. 24 of March 8, 2017 – imposes an obligation on healthcare facilities, public or private, to insure their liability by insurance policies or other risk financing instruments for the purpose of compensating patients appropriately in the event of
malpractice claims. The Italian legislator explicitly refers to risk retention techniques, considering these strategies as equivalent to insurance. This subject-matter therefore becomes interesting from a legal point of view, as the possibility for injured parties to obtain a compensation for the damage suffered is closely related to the debtor’s financial solvency. After a short introduction on the concept of risk transfer and risk retention, the attention is devoted to the main features of self-insurance looking at different legal systems, in order to understand if this
risk managing tool could be implemented effectively as an alternative strategy to insurance.
SOMMARIO:
1. Introduzione. – 2. Ritenzione del rischio e assicurazione a confronto. – 3. La conformazione delle «analoghe misure, anche di assunzione diretta del rischio». – 4. Riflessioni conclusive.