Proa Comunicación has collaborated in the presentation of the book 'La prestación de servicios sanitarios como relación jurídica de consumo' (The provision of health services as a legal consumer relationship).‘This is the first work in Spanish doctrine which comprehensively addresses the study of the legal-healthcare relationship from the perspective of Consumer Law, and which demonstrates that the user of healthcare services is a special consumer.
The presentation of the work, written by Joaquín Cayón, Head of the Legal Advice Service of the Regional Ministry of Health of Cantabria and Doctoral Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Cantabria, took place at the Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation. The following took part in the event Francisco Marín Castán, President of the First Chamber of the Supreme Court; Red AngelProfessor of Commercial Law at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; and Jorge TomilloProfessor of Commercial Law at the University of Cantabria.
During their speeches, the presenters emphasised that the work provides pioneering foundations in the techniques of legal protection of patients. They also emphasised that the study takes a novel approach to medical liability, one of the most frequent legal battlefronts in civil and contentious-administrative proceedings. Finally, it was emphasised that the monograph opens the door to a comprehensive rather than partial examination of the provision of health services from the perspective of the rules of consumer legal protection.
Throughout the more than 600 pages of the book, Joaquín Cayón examines the most recent pre-legislative trends affecting the matter (Preliminary Draft of the Commercial Code of 2014 and Proposal for the Civil Code of 2016) and analyses other legal models from foreign systems. In this regard, the author defended during the event that "the cumulative application of sectoral health legislation and general consumer legislation makes it possible to increase the arsenal, both preventive and restorative, available to the patient"..
In addition to the subjects of the provision of health services, the book studies as "consumer contracts" the different types of access to private health care, both through direct provision (medical services contract and clinic contract) and indirect provision (health care insurance contract).
Finally, the monograph examines the consequences of negligence in medical acts, as well as the objectivisation of liability in damages caused by organisational aspects of the service or by defective medicines and medical devices.