lex Maria

Swedish

Etymology

Compound of lex (“law”) +‎ Maria (“Maria”). From the name of hospital Maria sjukhus where four patients died after accidentally being injected with disinfectant in 1936.

Noun

lex Maria c

1. (Sweden, law, healthcare) The colloquial term for a specific law; which states that a health care provider has notification obligation towards the Health and Social Care Inspectorate when they have caused, or risked causing, injury of a patient.
   • 2022 January 26, Annika Carpman, “Försvunna journaler lex Maria-anmälda [Missing journals act Maria reported]”, in Dagens Medicin‎^[1]:

     När Ivo begärde ut journaler från Norsjö kommun upptäcktes att vissa handlingar saknades. Händelsen är nu anmäld enligt lex Maria.

     When the Health and Social Care Inspectorate requested medical records from Norsjö municipality, it was discovered that certain documents were missing. The incident is now reported according to act Maria.

Usage notes

• Currently, as of March 2022, refers to the Swedish law 3 kap 5 § Patientsäkerhetslagen ("Chapter 3 Paragraph 5 of the Swedish Patient Safety Law").
• Until 2011 it previously referred to the, now obsolete, Swedish law 6 kap. 4 § lagen om yrkesverksamhet på hälso- och sjukvårdens område ("Chapter 6 Section 4 of the Act on professional activities in the field of health and medical care").

Derived terms

• lex Maria-anmälan (“report according to Lex Maria”)

Further reading

• Patientsäkerhetslagen 3 kap 5 § (Chapter 3 Paragraph 5 of the Patient Safety Law) at Lagen.nu