[Patient safety -- mission for the future: Managing complications: what do I tell to the patients and what to the relatives?].

In cases of unintended treatment courses an adequate communication is mandatory. Empathetic conversations expressing human warmth can pave the way to the avoidance of forensic consequences. The laws on patient's rights obligate the responsible physician to inform on request the patient about all recognizable circumstances that may lead to the assumption of a treatment error and to avoid hazards to health. The patient has a right to view his or her complete patient records and to demand that copy be made at the patient's expense. In the case of information to relatives the physician must observe the content and scope of his/her obligation to medical confidentiality.