Medical Malpractice under UAE Law.
"The malpractice is an error that occurs due to the unfamiliarity of a practitioner with the technical aspects which each practitioner is assumed to be familiar with, due to negligence or paying insufficient efforts".
On its way upward when UAE was well transformed into a country of ravishing skyscrapers, diverse business opportunities and world-class infrastructure facilities, the Government of the UAE realized that it's own elite class of local Arabs were turning to the West for medical treatments and therefore a business opportunity was being missed.
For a country that was developed and transformed at a lightning fast speed, this was a wake up call. Besides developing sophisticated medical infrastructure to advance medical tourism, the need for a conclusive legislation was felt.
Doctors will no longer be compelled to resuscitate dying patients under sweeping changes to the law governing health care.
The new rules permit medical staff to allow natural death to take its course and refrain from performing CPR on dying patients who are suffering from conditions that are probably incurable.
If all treatment has failed, or at least three doctors advise against resuscitation, a patient will be allowed to die naturally.
Until now, any doctor who fails to resuscitate a patient has been liable to prosecution. The change in the law follows a report in April by a task force set up by the Health Authority Abu Dhabi to examine where improvements could be made in palliative care.
Nesreen Al Alfi, of Fatima College for Health Care Sciences in Abu Dhabi, and a member of the task force, said there were challenges in overcoming cultural beliefs and a legal system with no approved policies until now for "do not resuscitate" or "allow natural death".
The new law brings about other sweeping changes to the way health care is delivered and how medical staff work, including exempting doctors from criminal liability in many cases where they now face prosecution.
Under the new law, if harm to a patient is self inflicted, or a result of refusal of treatment or failure to follow medical advice, then the doctor concerned will not be liable to prosecution.
A doctor will also not be liable if unexpected complications arise that are not caused by medical error.
Legal experts told The National in June that convicting health professionals of misconduct and sending them to prison was contributing to unnecessary medical tests and the over-prescription of medication.
Stephen Ballantine, a solicitor at Galadari Advocates and Legal Consultants in Dubai, and a medical malpractice specialist, said doctors were hugely concerned about their exposure to accusations of malpractice.
Decriminalising the issue would help to attract the best doctors to the UAE and encourage medical tourism, one of the key elements in Dubai’s future vision for growth, Mr Ballantine said.
"The malpractice is an error that occurs due to the unfamiliarity of a practitioner with the technical aspects which each practitioner is assumed to be familiar with, due to negligence or paying insufficient efforts".
On its way upward when UAE was well transformed into a country of ravishing skyscrapers, diverse business opportunities and world-class infrastructure facilities, the Government of the UAE realized that it's own elite class of local Arabs were turning to the West for medical treatments and therefore a business opportunity was being missed.
For a country that was developed and transformed at a lightning fast speed, this was a wake up call. Besides developing sophisticated medical infrastructure to advance medical tourism, the need for a conclusive legislation was felt.
Doctors will no longer be compelled to resuscitate dying patients under sweeping changes to the law governing health care.
The new rules permit medical staff to allow natural death to take its course and refrain from performing CPR on dying patients who are suffering from conditions that are probably incurable.
If all treatment has failed, or at least three doctors advise against resuscitation, a patient will be allowed to die naturally.
Until now, any doctor who fails to resuscitate a patient has been liable to prosecution. The change in the law follows a report in April by a task force set up by the Health Authority Abu Dhabi to examine where improvements could be made in palliative care.
Nesreen Al Alfi, of Fatima College for Health Care Sciences in Abu Dhabi, and a member of the task force, said there were challenges in overcoming cultural beliefs and a legal system with no approved policies until now for "do not resuscitate" or "allow natural death".
The new law brings about other sweeping changes to the way health care is delivered and how medical staff work, including exempting doctors from criminal liability in many cases where they now face prosecution.
Under the new law, if harm to a patient is self inflicted, or a result of refusal of treatment or failure to follow medical advice, then the doctor concerned will not be liable to prosecution.
A doctor will also not be liable if unexpected complications arise that are not caused by medical error.
Legal experts told The National in June that convicting health professionals of misconduct and sending them to prison was contributing to unnecessary medical tests and the over-prescription of medication.
Stephen Ballantine, a solicitor at Galadari Advocates and Legal Consultants in Dubai, and a medical malpractice specialist, said doctors were hugely concerned about their exposure to accusations of malpractice.
Decriminalising the issue would help to attract the best doctors to the UAE and encourage medical tourism, one of the key elements in Dubai’s future vision for growth, Mr Ballantine said.
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