La responsabilité civile des acteurs évoluant au sein des établissements hospitaliers du fait de la participation des comités d'éthique clinique au processus décisionnel médical /

Biomedical ethics gave birth to different kinds of ethics committees which pursue essentially a better understanding of the multidisciplinary problems it raises. The present thesis will first elucidate the legal implications related to the emergence of those committees. These preliminary considerations will show the topicality of those legal aspects as to hospital ethics committees. The author will then focus on the potential civil liability of all actors evolving within the hospital setting for the participation of those committees in the medical decision making process. In theory, this participation could arguably entail rather easily the liability of the health care providers and of the hospitals. The ethics committees, on the contrary, seem to be more protected. This thesis suggests nonetheless that the obligations related to the participation of the ethics committees to the medical decision making process are significant. Hence, it stands to reason that the creation of ethics committees should be evaluated with care. The conviction that the ethics committees will protect the health care providers from malpractice suits appears to be incorrect in any event