Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 10:19 pm on 14 January 1991.
Is the Minister convinced that the law of tort, with its confrontational approach, is appropriate in the situations which can arise in the NHS? For example, a patient may have a confident, long-standing relationship with his doctor but something goes seriously wrong, although that is nobody's fault. In an organisation as large as the NHS, there can be accidents. The only form of redress is through the confrontational legal process, which has major disadvantages for all concerned. Is there not a more civilised way to deal with the problem?