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Gross negligence manslaughter in healthcare: Time for a restorative justice approach?

Gross negligence manslaughter in healthcare: Time for a restorative justice approach?
Gross negligence manslaughter in healthcare: Time for a restorative justice approach?
This article explores the merits of employing a restorative justice approach in cases of gross negligence manslaughter involving healthcare professionals, in line with the recent policy turn towards developing a just culture in addressing episodes of healthcare malpractice within the National Health Service in England. It is argued that redress for victims and rehabilitation of offenders should operate as key values, underpinning the adoption of a restorative justice approach in such cases. It would also be vital that a structured pathway was designed that established suitable protocols and safeguards for both victims and offenders taking account of problematic issues such as the informality of the process, power asymmetries between parties, and the context in which the offence took place. Taking all such matters into account, we propose that consideration be given to establishing a pilot involving the use of restorative justice in cases of gross negligence manslaughter involving healthcare professionals, which would be subject to judicial and stakeholder oversight to ensure transparency and accountability, which in turn could inform future policy options.
Doctors, Gross negligence manslaughter, Healthcare professionals, Law reform, Medical manslaughter, Restorative justice
0967-0742
526-548
Farrell, Anne-Maree
61a24b67-e7a3-49fd-a0f7-6ec6070b4947
Alghrani, Amel
c05ceca9-640b-4884-be07-14796390733b
Kazarian, Melinee
275d8dcd-19af-4530-9d99-6187819c6dcf
Farrell, Anne-Maree
61a24b67-e7a3-49fd-a0f7-6ec6070b4947
Alghrani, Amel
c05ceca9-640b-4884-be07-14796390733b
Kazarian, Melinee
275d8dcd-19af-4530-9d99-6187819c6dcf

Farrell, Anne-Maree, Alghrani, Amel and Kazarian, Melinee (2020) Gross negligence manslaughter in healthcare: Time for a restorative justice approach? Medical Law Review, 28 (3), 526-548. (doi:10.1093/medlaw/fwaa013).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This article explores the merits of employing a restorative justice approach in cases of gross negligence manslaughter involving healthcare professionals, in line with the recent policy turn towards developing a just culture in addressing episodes of healthcare malpractice within the National Health Service in England. It is argued that redress for victims and rehabilitation of offenders should operate as key values, underpinning the adoption of a restorative justice approach in such cases. It would also be vital that a structured pathway was designed that established suitable protocols and safeguards for both victims and offenders taking account of problematic issues such as the informality of the process, power asymmetries between parties, and the context in which the offence took place. Taking all such matters into account, we propose that consideration be given to establishing a pilot involving the use of restorative justice in cases of gross negligence manslaughter involving healthcare professionals, which would be subject to judicial and stakeholder oversight to ensure transparency and accountability, which in turn could inform future policy options.

Text
Farrell et al.MEDLAW-2020-005_FINAL - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 27 April 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 27 May 2020
Published date: 1 August 2020
Additional Information: Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press; All rights reserved.
Keywords: Doctors, Gross negligence manslaughter, Healthcare professionals, Law reform, Medical manslaughter, Restorative justice

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 441207
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/441207
ISSN: 0967-0742
PURE UUID: 27aee6dd-32b3-4fec-9e44-a3ce9821b39b
ORCID for Melinee Kazarian: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0740-3155

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Date deposited: 04 Jun 2020 16:31
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 05:38

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Author: Anne-Maree Farrell
Author: Amel Alghrani

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