The Non-Contractual Nature of Civil Liability for Damages Caused in the Provision of the Public Health Service in Colombia

This article analyzes the feasibility of applying the rules of contractual civil liability to damage events generated in the provision of the compulsory public health service in Colombia. For this, we will start from the current regulation on the social security system in health, in order to establish whether there is a contract between the affiliates and the health system, that is, a voluntary, concrete and relationship, or on the contrary, a legal and regulatory relationship is generated. Defining the above is important if the distinction between contractual and extra-contractual civil liability are considered, in addition to the prohibition in force in our legal system to arbitrarily choose which of these types of liability to sue. Finally, an attempt will be made to support the thesis that the damages caused in the provision of the public health service must be analyzed under the rules of extra-contractual liability, and not with those of contractual liability.