House to ‘carefully examine’, discuss medical liability bill — speaker

AMMAN — Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh on Wednesday said the draft medical accountability law will not be endorsed until it is discussed extensively with the concerned parties to serve national interest, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

Speaking at a meeting with presidents of medical syndicates, Tarawneh said the House has formed a committee to examine medical liability laws and the experiences of France and the UAE in implementing such legislation to prepare a comprehensive vision on the law. 

Tarawneh also urged the medical syndicates to present their suggestions on the law’s articles to be shown to the House Medical Committee. 

Medical liability is controversial and should be given a large portion of discussion before any endorsement, the House speaker said.

Jordan Medical Association (JMA) President Ali Abous, Jordan Dental Association President Ibrahim Tarawneh , Jordan Nurses and Midwives Association President Mohammad Hatamleh and Jordan Pharmacists Association’s administrative committee chair Ismail Saadi attended the meeting.

They called for withdrawing the law from the House and launching a new discussion with the syndicates to draft a law that serves public interest, arguing that the current draft focuses on penalties and ignores technical aspects.

At a consultative meeting held late last year to discuss the bill, the JMA said the draft medical accountability law will “badly affect medical services, since it will prevent doctors from taking complex and tough conditions due to fear of complications and legal liability”.

Meeting attendees charged that the bill is skewed in favour of insurance companies.

JMA council member Nidal Badran said the draft law would “force all doctors to insure against medical errors, while the JMA suggestion to create an association fund to cover medical malpractice was rejected”.

But Jordan Insurance Federation Chairman Ali Wazani has dismissed as baseless claims that the insurance sector had pressured the government to draft the bill in its favour.