LEGAL-ASPECTS OF POSTOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT OF PAIN

The scope of medical treatment also includes a duty to ameliorate pain . To date, however, most of our hospitals lack a service providing a s ystematic approach to the amelioration of postoperative pain that make s differentiated use of modern painrelieving techniques. Since, in thi s area, the respective responsibilities of surgeons and anaesthetists overlap, local agreements are necessary to clearly define the respecti ve duties of each. An interdisciplinary agreement reached in 1992 offe rs models for such cases, which also take into account the forensic as pects that result from task sharing in accordance with the various ind ividual models.