La responsabilità del medico veterinario nell’ambito della legge Gelli-Bianco

Onnis Cugia, Federico

2025-01-01

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Abstract

Although the scope of the Gelli-Bianco law is often reduced to “medical liability,” it must be considered that the regulations in question must also apply to veterinary medicine, which is expressly included among the healthcare professions. On the other hand, the same objectives declared by the legislator in 2017 regarding the safety of care as an integral part of the right to health, pursued in the interest of the individual and the community, echo those of ensuring a high level of protection of human health underlying Regulation (EC) 178/2002. Nevertheless, some parties are calling for specific legislation for veterinarians, as if the legislation on the professional liability of healthcare professionals were not sufficient to regulate the issues arising from the peculiar nature of animal patients, defined on the one hand as sentient beings by Article 13 TFEU, and, on the other, as movable property under our civil law system, with which a relationship of affection may arise that is relevant to the non-pecuniary component of compensation for damage. On this basis, this contribution aims to examine the critical issues arising from the application of the regulations to veterinary practitioners, highlighting the importance – also in this context – of the leitmotif of risk management inherent in the Gelli-Bianco law, concretely realized by the combination of “liability and insurance.” Particular attention will be paid – thanks also to the critical analysis of some court rulings – to compensation issues, where the most critical point of the extension of the Gelli-Bianco law to veterinary medicine emerges.