A lecture by
Athanasios Panagiotou

When: Monday, October 10, 15:00 – 15:50

Where: Deree Faculty Lounge

Organized by: Faculty Research Seminars 2016-17 Series

Thanos Panagiotou is attorney-at-law in Athens, and a member of the Athens Bar Association. He received his Law degree from the Faculty of Law of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 2011. He holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Medical Law from Queen Mary University of London in 2013. He is currently a PhD candidate, researching ‘Contemporary legal approaches to medical malpractice’ at the Faculty of Law of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

Mr. Panagiotou has been a member of the Deree faculty since May 2016, where he teaches Business Legal Issues. His research interests include medical liability, the EU Directive 2011/23/EU, regulation of patient safety, legal issues of organ transplantation, patient’s rights, codes of medical ethics and their impact on physicians’ professional conduct, the regulatory framework and the legal issues of medical tourism, the regulatory framework of assisted human reproduction, the legal framework of clinical research, and legal issues of evidence-based medicine.

Abstract

The particular paper was presented during the 5th Conference of the European Association of Health Law (‘Health Law and Cross Border Care in Europe’, Prague, 1-2 October 2015) and was published at the European Journal of Health Law (European Journal of Health Law, 23(4): 350-372).
Due to the incorporation of Directive 2011/24/EU into national legislations European citizens will seek cross-border healthcare services. However, medical errors are an inherent part of medical practice. Major differences in European redress systems might create an environment of legal uncertainty and reduce the confidence of patients in seeking cross-border healthcare. After assessing European citizens’ perception regarding errors, we will try to examine if the aforementioned uncertainty is clarified by the EU legislation. Given that formal harmonization measures have not been legislated, the total convergence of redress systems is currently infeasible. Nevertheless, Member States could achieve a natural convergence through the reform of their national rules and the gradual adoption of common principles. The paper will try to propose these principles and emphasize the key objectives reform in this area should aim at, in order to be effective in both enhancing legal certainty and balancing conflicting goals.