Health minister Hugo de Jonge is going to ban hospitals from issuing gagging orders designed to stop patients or next of kin speaking out about medical errors, broadcaster Nos reports.
‘Gagging orders are a disgrace and unacceptable in an open and learning environment, which is what healthcare should be,’ De Jonge said. A draft law to end the practice will be put to MPs after the summer break, the broadcaster said.
If the proposal becomes law, any new agreements in which patients are forced to forego a court case or official complaint and are barred from speaking to family or friends about a case of medical negligence will be declared null and void.
In 2017 the health inspectorate said some 55 reports of gagging orders in exchange for money had been registered in one year.
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