Germany’s commissioner for patients calls for register of doctors’ errors

The German government’s commissioner for patients has called for the establishment of a federal register listing “doctors’ mistakes,” a suggestion strongly rejected by the German Medical Association as unnecessary while at the same time criticised by some campaigners for patients’ rights as inadequate.

Wolfgang Zöller, a Bundestag member serving as patient commissioner in the German health ministry, proposed the register in an interview in the daily Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung (15 Feb, p 2), saying that Germany needs a “new culture” for dealing with doctors’ errors to reduce their number.

He suggested setting up a malpractice register, which initially would not identify doctors suspected of malpractice. Establishment of the register could be inserted into a proposed law on patients’ rights now under discussion by the government, he said.

Spokespeople for the …