No-fault compensation for medical injury: Principles, practice and prospects for reform

Professor Sheila McLean’s interest in the issue of no-fault compensation schemes for medical injury, including the principles that should guide their establishment, is a longstanding one.1 In addition to her wide-ranging expertise in matters of medical law and ethics, this made her an eminently suitable choice on the part of the Scottish Government to chair the No Fault Compensation Review Group (NFCRG).2 The Group was established in 2009 to examine the potential benefits for patients in Scotland of a no-fault compensation scheme for injury resulting from medical treatment, and to consider whether it should sit alongside the existing medical negligence system.3 The Report setting out the NFCRG’s findings and recommendations was published in 2011 (McLean Report),4 and a further consultation on the Report has now been completed.5 At the time of writing, the Scottish Government has yet to respond to the consultation and announce whether it intends to implement the Report’s recommendations.