The burden of proof of medical “no-fault”

Abstract

In Venezuela, in recent years, there have been several cases of doctors who have committed harmful acts in the provision of health services. However, when patients or their relatives seek civil redress for the harm suffered, they face a veritable obstacle course. The heavy burden of proof of medical fault that falls on the injured parties, coupled with the complacent judges who allow the chicanery of lawyers, has generated chaos in the institution of civil law, preventing the proper administration of justice. When the jurisprudence on medical civil liability is analyzed, the heroic evidentiary effort of the victims or their relatives becomes evident, as a result of rigid and outdated rules of distribution of the burden of proof, as well as the exegetic interpretation of the procedural law by the judges. The crude reality of these judicial processes indicates that justice has gone against the path laid out by the Constitution in terms of the way of declaring the law in a model of a democratic and social State of Law and Justice.