CYIL vol. 10 (2019)

MASSIMO FOGLIA CYIL 10 ȍ2019Ȏ In this context, consent takes on a new and special meaning touching on the field of personality, as it aims to satisfy different needs. The classical notion of private autonomy is cast aside, because, as has been observed, “biography” – not biology – is involved. In the context of the doctor/patient relationship, the impact of fundamental rights and public interests protected by the Constitution is also significant. The concrete application of the Constitution still requires a further interpretation effort, such as ensuring adequate adherence to everyday problems, in such a way as to ensure that laws create the necessary conditions for helping the “weak”, affected by disease, to elaborate their own personal understanding of health issues. In this sense, the doctor/patient relationship is a complex matter, one that is not only limited to the mere provision of medical services, but one that implies a plethora of protective duties aimed at safeguarding the patient’s health and which are based on the constitutional principle of social solidarity ( solidarietà sociale ), as per article 2 of the Italian Constitution. The doctor who is required to operate within the restricted boundaries defined by the patient’s will is held to a duty to act with professional diligence which permeates all phases of the compulsory relationship. Medical conduct is assessed across the broad range of medical services. The latter are divided into the various phases implied in a doctor/patient relationship, starting from the obligations to provide information during, amongst others, the pre-treatment phase. Interpreting articles 2, 13 and 32 of the Constitution leads us – in short – to affirm a fundamental right to self-determination. Today, clear and explicit reference to this right is made in Law no. 219/2017. This law enshrines the “foundational” value of consent, a rule that governs the ambivalent relationship between authority and freedom over one’s body 39 . 4. The Borderland of Contract in the Healthcare Sector Legal scholars have placed medical liability in the “area of turbulence” 40 between contract and tort 41 . In this landscape, the legal paradigm loses itself within the evanescent boundary between the two liability regimes: the absence of formal contract would involve a tortious 39 On the need for a “reasonable” compromise between the right to self-determination and the principle of the non-availability of human life, see PERLINGIERI, Giovanni. Profili applicativi della ragionevolezza nel diritto civile. Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, Napoli 2015, p. 99 f. 40 This evocative term is credited to CASTRONOVO, Carlo. La nuova responsabilità civile . Giuffrè, Milano 2006, p. 443. 41 BUSNELLI, Francesco Donato. Itinerari europei nella «terra di nessuno» tra contratto e fatto illecito: la responsabilità da informazioni inesatte. Contratto e impresa. (1991), p. 539; Id., Le nuove frontiere della responsabilità civile. Rivista critica di diritto privato. (1988), p. 469 ff. The author refers to the expression used by GILMORE, Grant. The Death of Contract. Ohio State University Press, Columbus 1974. See also GALGANO, Francesco. Le mobili frontiere del danno ingiusto. Contratto e impresa. (1985), p. 1 ff.; Id., Le antiche e le nuove frontiere del danno risarcibile. Contratto e impresa. (2008), p. 73 ff.; CASTRONOVO, Carlo. Le nobili frontiere della responsabilità civile. Rivista critica di diritto privato. (1989), p. 539 ff.; LIBERTINI, Mario. Le nuove frontiere del danno risarcibile. Contratto e impresa. (1989), p. 85 ff.; ALPA, Guido. Gli incerti confini della responsabilità civile. Responsabilità civile e previdenza. (2006), P. 1805 ff.; Id., Dove va la responsabilità civile?. Nuova giurisprudenza civile commentata. (2010), p. 175 ff.; SCOGNAMIGLIO, Claudio. Il danno al patrimonio tra contratto e torto. Responsabilità civile e previdenza. (2007), p. 1253 ff.; NIVARRA, Luca. Le frontiere mobili della responsabilità contrattuale. Giustizia civile. (2016), p. 5 ff.; TRAVAGLINO, Giacomo. La responsabilità contrattuale tra tradizione e innovazione. Responsabilità civile e previdenza. (2016), p. 75 ff.

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