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by George Kazoleas, Lawyer LL.M. The majority of lawsuits against doctors allege medical errors that resulted in the death of patients or in other cases the deterioration of their health. A lawsuit filed a few years ago against a doctor in Germany involved an accusation against him of the opposite: That the doctor was responsible for prolonging the patient's life while he should have ended it. Facts of the case The patient, born in 1929, had been suffering from a dementia syndrome since 1997 and until his death in 2011 was under the supervision of an attorney, which included both his health and personal care. Since 2006 the patient has been living in a nursing home. During his stay in hospital in September 2006, he became ill due to malnutrition and with the consent of the lawyer, a catheter was inserted into him, through which he was artificially fed until his death. The defendant, a general doctor, began to care for the patient in the spring of 2007. The patient’s health deterior...

The case of Paparrigopoulos v. Greece (application no. 61657/16) concerned proceedings for the judicial determination of paternity of the applicant’s daughter. The applicant complained in particular that domestic law had not afforded him the opportunity to acknowledge paternity voluntarily and that this had had the consequence of limiting his parental responsibility in respect of his daughter.  In Chamber's judgment dated 30.6.2022, the European Court of Human Rights unanimously found the following violations: