Abstract

The Law of 8 March 2017, no. 24 introduced an important reform of health liability, concerning different areas of the Italian legal system (Criminal Law, Private Law, Civil Procedural Law, Insurance Law). The law comes at a distance of less than five years after the last legislative intervention (almost unanimously considered ineffective) and seeks to reconcile the often opposite needs of physicians and patients, in an attempt to overcome the practices of defensive medicine. The paper analyzes the main innovations in the Private Law field, ranging from the provision of a differentiated liability regime (contractual to health facilities, non-contractual to physicians), the introduction of a compulsory insurance system (including direct action against insurers), to a new discipline of the right of redress.