[Contribution of the Medico Legal Council to the National Board of Health's handling of patient complaints about physicians' conduct].

In 1984 and 1985 the National Board of Health received a total of 1,062 complaints from patients regarding alleged malpractice. The Medico Legal Council submitted an opinion in 100 (9.4%) of these cases. There were only very few cases where there was a real and significant difference between the ruling of the National Board of Health and the opinion of the Medico Legal Council. However, the National Board of Health was clearly more critical in general in assessment of the complaints. It is considered of value, both with regard to the extent of the assessment and also the legal aspects, that it is possible, in some cases, to obtain an assessment of the case by a "second-opinion" from the Medico Legal Council.