This illuminating study explores the role of professionals, patients, regulation and law in improving patient safety.

Oliver Quick is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Bristol. He teaches undergraduate and postgraduate courses in criminal law, medical law and public health law. He has published numerous articles in these fields, and is co-author of Reconstructing Criminal Law (with Nicola Lacey and Celia Wells, Cambridge, 2010). He has carried out empirical research into how UK prosecutors and experts interpret the controversial crime of 'medical manslaughter'. He obtained his Ph.D. thesis from the University of Wales, Cardiff and has been a visiting scholar at the University of Western Australia, Perth, Boston University and the National University of Singapore.

Introduction; 1. The rise and fall of professional dominance; 2. The problem of patient safety; 3. Regulation and trust; 4. Professional regulation and patient safety; 5. Complaining and claiming; 6. The criminalisation of medical harm; 7. Coronial investigations and inquests; 8. Professional responsibility: speaking up and saying sorry; 9. Patients, carers and safety. Conclusion.