From ancient healing to modern litigation: a historical journey through medical negligence and tort law.

IF 0.8 Q3 MEDICAL ETHICS

Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine Pub Date : 2025-12-20 eCollection Date: 2025-01-01 DOI:10.18502/jmehm.v18i19.20604

Milad Mashayekh, Mahdi Abbasi Sarmadi

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Abstract

This article traces the historical evolution of medical negligence from ancient outcome-based penalties to modern tort law. Employing a historical-analytical method, it examines primary legal texts-from the Code of Hammurabi to landmark cases like Bolam and Bolitho-and secondary sources to analyze this transformation. The findings reveal a shift from ancient codes that penalized results, through medieval guild regulation, to the common law's establishment of a duty of care and a professionally defined standard subject to judicial scrutiny. Modern developments, such as the rise of informed consent and defensive medicine, illustrate tort law's ongoing adaptation to the complexities of healthcare. The conclusion underscores that this journey reflects evolving societal expectations for reasonable medical care, balancing patient rights with clinical realities. Understanding this history is vital for contemporary debates on patient safety and professional accountability, pointing to future research into non-Western traditions as well as to challenges such as artificial intelligence.

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从古代治疗到现代诉讼：医疗过失和侵权法的历史之旅。

本文追溯了医疗过失从古代基于结果的处罚到现代侵权法的历史演变。本书采用历史分析的方法，考察了主要的法律文本——从《汉谟拉比法典》到像波拉姆和波利托这样具有里程碑意义的案例——以及二手资料来分析这种转变。研究结果表明，从惩罚结果的古代法典，到中世纪的行会法规，再到普通法中建立的注意义务和受司法审查的专业定义标准的转变。现代的发展，如知情同意和防御性医学的兴起，说明了侵权法对医疗保健复杂性的不断适应。结论强调，这一过程反映了社会对合理医疗保健的期望不断变化，需要在患者权利和临床现实之间取得平衡。理解这段历史对于当代关于患者安全和专业责任的辩论至关重要，它为未来对非西方传统的研究以及人工智能等挑战指明了方向。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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