title: [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.
authors.affiliation: Koninklijke Nederlandsche Maatschappij tot bevordering der Geneeskunst, afd. Beleid en Advies, Postbus 20.051, 3502 LB Utrecht. r.de.roode@fed.knmg.nl
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: de Roode
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Legemaate
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009426:Netherlands; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D018743:Perinatal Care / Q000592:standards*; D054238:Perinatal Mortality; D011247:Pregnancy; D011786:Quality Control; D011787:Quality of Health Care