new law regarding medical responsibility in the United Arab Emirates

In the United Arab Emirates, medical responsibility was formerly defined and governed by the provisions of Law 7 of 1975 for the practice of medical professions; this had been a part of civil law. The passing of Law 10 of 2008, namely the Law on Medical Responsibility in the UAE ", which was enacted on the 16th of December 2008, created a new framework to deal with this issue. The old master-servant relationship for compensations is replaced by insurance companies, which will pay damages to the plaintiff [patient] injured as a result of a physicians' negligence. This paper provides the first translation of the Arabic text of the new law into English. This is particularly important for expatriate doctors working in UAE; many of whom do not speak Arabic. Where appropriate, a comparison is made between provisions of the old law and new law dealing with similar points. Moreover this paper provides an overview of some contemporary legal and ethical issues in medical practice, i.e. confidentiality, consent, euthanasia, abortion, sterilization, assisted reproduction technology and cloning of humans. Legal and ethical restrictions have been presented and discussed for the benefit of physicians in order to increase their awareness of these matters

Perspectives on medical responsibility

Almost worldwide, medical responsibility generally lies within the premise of the common law, which looks at the negligent doctor as if he has committed tort. In Libya, there is a separate statute that applies specifically to medical responsibility. Consequent to that statute, an insurance agency was created, to provide for damages awarded to the plaintiff patient by the court of law. The paper gives an overview of the issue of medical responsibility and medical negligence. A brief comparison of the legal points of view between Libya and the United Arab Emirates is also presented. The full text of the statute has been translated into English so that expatriate doctors working in Libya can read it. The objective of this paper is to provide the medical practitioner with the basic information about the subject, and introducing him to the essence of the legal system. Every doctor should realize the risks involved in the course of his practice. Abasic knowledge of the law is required to avoid pitfalls and to safeguard oneself against errors arising from ignorance of the duties and rights of the professional person