Medical Negligence and the Nigerian National Health Insurance Scheme: Civil Liability, No-Fault or a Hybrid Model?

Academic debates on the most expedient method for addressing medical malpractice veer between reform of the tort of medical negligence or adoption of the no-fault compensation scheme. The no-fault system, which is operative in countries such as New Zealand and Sweden, has become the other alternative against which the tort system is measured. This paper examines these two systems while evaluating the parameters outlined by the Nigerian National Health Insurance Scheme to address medical error. It assesses whether the no-fault system or similar administrative frameworks can cater to the demands of medical accountability in Nigeria. It appraises the objectives of the tort system, tort being one of the regulatory approaches adopted by the Nigerian Scheme, and questions the critique of this system through the no-fault system, a system constructed on an entirely different agenda. The author suggests that proposals for malpractice regulation should be contextually-situated and multifaceted, as this debate is not one that should be argued outside the socio-economic and socio-demographic actualities of a healthcare state.