[Perinatal audit: the most important legal aspects]

Abstract

In The Netherlands a perinatal audit system is being prepared. Perinatal audit is seen as a powerful means of identifying substandard factors in perinatal care and of increasing the quality of care with better grounding. The proposed system does not raise insurmountable legal problems. However, certain legal aspects should be given specific attention. These aspects include the rights of patients with respect to privacy and information and the protection of health professionals against use of information from the audit system for reasons other than quality purposes. Legislation from other countries may inspire legislative developments in The Netherlands in this area.