[Medico-legal aspects of chronic respiratory insufficiency under long-term oxygen inhalation therapy].

Ninety-one subjects affected by severe pulmonary insufficiency necessitating continuous treatment with oxygen were studied. The social and professional realities and their status within the national health service were determined. The results of the research, obtained through the use of the questionnaires, showed that the lives of these subjects are very much influenced by their pathology. Among the factors considered were necessity for home assistance, scarce or absence of autonomy and contact with the outside world and extremely reduced work capacity. Elevated public spending for assistance was analyzed in reference to public health insurance as regards each single subject and the type of lung dysfunction from which the subject suffered.