Read more
"A contract is an agreement by which one or more persons bind themselves towards one or more others to do or not to do something. The purpose of this agreement, or rather this agreement of will, is to create legal effects. Applied to the medical field, "the medical contract is the act by which the patient expresses the will to accept the care that his condition requires, together with the will of the doctor to provide it". The patient lends himself to the examination, and the doctor in return undertakes to fulfil his mission. This is the meeting of two wills: the will to treat and the will to be treated. The contractual nature of the relationship between a patient and his doctor was established in France by the Mercier ruling of 20 May 1936. This only applies to the private practice of medicine. In the DRC, case law has unfortunately not changed. The doctor is still prosecuted, in the event of fault, on the basis of articles 258 and 259 of the Civil Code Book III relating to torts and quasi-torts. Academic writers, for their part, have remained almost silent. Our study is a first. We strongly recommend that you read it!
About the author
L'autore è: - laureato in diritto privato e giudiziario (Università di Kinshasa: 1999); - difensore dei diritti umani formato dall'Ufficio dell'Alto Commissario per i Diritti Umani (1998); - ricercatore indipendente in diritto medico; - membro dell'Ordine degli Avvocati del Kongo Centrale.
