The Lana-Lagostena Bassi Rosi Law Firm can boast a long and consolidated experience in this field. More specifically, the Firm is primarily experienced in litigation related to damages arising from medical malpractice and it is known in the field for the numerous initiatives undertaken on a legal and institutional level for the protection of the rights of citizens who were victims of dysfunctions in the public health sector.
Today, the Firm carries out judicial, extrajudicial and consulting activities, particularly in the following areas:
The Firm grants court assistance to patients who have suffered damages arising from medical and hospital activities in order to obtain a fair compensation, not only in relation to disputes against hospitals and health facilities, but also against individual professionals.
The Firm was the first to promote a dispute against the Ministry of Health on the subject of contagion by infected blood: in 1993, the Firm promoted the first class action lawsuit in Italy in favor of over three hundred and fifty hemophiliacs who claimed to have contracted HIV, HCV and HBV viruses, following the administration of infected blood products and infected blood. In 1998 the Court of Rome, with the first and fundamental judgement on the subject, not only recognized the responsibility of the Ministry of Health for failure to carry out pharmacovigilance, but also condemned the Ministry to pay compensation for biological, moral, psychological, existential and patrimonial damages, in addition to the payment of expenses documented by the victims
Subsequently, the Firm has promoted numerous other collective and individual judgments in most Italian Courts, obtaining decisive pronouncements which have contributed to determining the relevant case law in this matter for the first time ever.
For instance, it was on an application brought up by a pool of lawyers coordinated by Mr. Mario Lana, that the Joint Sections of the Suprema Corte di Cassazione ruled on the subject for the first time, with the fundamental judgement of 11 January 2008, no. 581, which is still the leading case in the field of compensation for infected blood.
In the past, the Firm has been the main interlocutor of the Ministry of Health for negotiations aimed at the settlement of such disputes.
Moreover, the Firm has conducted numerous awareness campaigns which have led to the approval by Parliament of Law no. 210 of 25 February 1992, establishing compensation for individuals injured by transfusions or administration of blood products, and then Law no. 238 of 25 July 1997, containing amendments and integrations to the previous legislation.
Notwithstanding the undisputed social value and the welfare purposes of this compensation, the Italian legislator, in order to contain public expenses, established that a substantial part of the aforementioned compensation should not be revalued according to the rate of inflation with a provision introduced by D.L. no. 78 of 31 May 2010.
The Lana-Lagostena Bassi Rosi Law Firm has strongly fought against this unjust rule, succeeding in obtaining the declaration of constitutional illegitimacy ruled by the Constitutional Court with a judgement rendered on 9 November 2011, no. 293.
The Firm is at the disposal of the interested parties to assist them in the drafting of the request for revaluation of the bimonthly compensation received pursuant to Law 210/92, with the additional aim of obtaining the payment of the differences built up in the past and unpaid.