Medical Liability in the Eritrean Context

Abstract

Medical negligence lawsuits are relatively rare in Eritrea, when compared to other countries. Nonetheless, this
does not mean that there are no medical faults, but rather society’s knowledge and attitude towards suing a
Hospital is very low, except for a few cases. The fatalistic attitude engendered by tradition plays a pivotal role.
Victims of negligence accept it as fate. In most cases, patients lack the awareness that they can sue and claim
damages from health care providers for negligence. However, this is not true in all cases. Nowadays, there is
a growing tendency in Eritrea of lodging lawsuits against medical professionals. This reality must attract our
attention and trigger some actions since it is also one way of checking and evaluating ourselves against quality
care. This paper is largely based on the articles quoted from the Eritrean Transitional Codes, which might be subject to different interpretations.