Update On Insurance Case-Law

1. Life Insurance

According to the judgment No 3263/2016 issued by the Italian Court of Cassation, if the Beneficiary of a Life Insurance is not united by any bond of maintenance or economic dependence to the insured, the Life Insurance is an indirect gift – carried out in a spirit of liberality (according the Court the latter should be considered a presumption of law unless proved otherwise). The Article 775 of the Italian Civil Law will apply to the case at issue. As consequence, if the Life Insurance is signed by an unfit to plead (“incapace naturale”), it could be nullified. We are waiting for the judgment of the Merits Courts.

2. The Instruments are Relevant for Doctors

The Court of Cassation – by the judgment N. 4540 issued on 08.03.2016 – stated that the hospital, which does not have adequate equipment to recognise the malformations of the unborn (“feto”), must inform interested parties on the possibility of using more specialized Hospital Structures. If it does not comply with this provision, the hospital jointly with the doctor who made the diagnosis could be obliged to compensate the damages suffered as results of the failure to diagnose the condition of the unborn. 

When a patient comes to a Medical Facility for diagnostic tests, the hospital structure is obligated to make available trained health personnel and equipment who are adequate and efficient. If it does not have the appropriate equipment, the structure and the doctors must inform the patient: in this way  the latter may contact other Hospitals.