Medical risk: record conviction for a general practitioner

The French mutual group MASCF-Le Sou Medical was ordered in 2018 to pay a compensation of 10.2 million EUR (11.6 million USD) under professional liability insurance. This is the first loss caused by a general practitioner that exceeded the 10 million EUR (11.4 million USD).

The insured was blamed for carelessness towards a delicate pathological situation. The health of a 7-month-old baby who had been diagnosed with gastroenteritis rapidly deteriorated requiring hospitalization. Since then, the child has suffered severe after-effects with West syndrome resulting in a major intellectual deficit with motor disorders and epilepsy that is difficult to balance.

In France, the sentences handed down by the courts for medical errors are becoming more and more severe. Civil courts granted 52.45 million EUR (59.9 million USD) of compensations in 2018, up by 24% in one year.

Another significant development was that 69% of the 434 third party liability appeals in 2018 resulted in a conviction against 64% in 2017.