Facts
The plaintiff, [F.], consulted Professor X., head of the University Hospital of Geneva, as a private patient. She asked him to ligate her fallopian tubes during an operation. Nearly ten years later, [F.] reproached Professor X. for having sterilized her without medical justification and without ensuring that she had given her free and informed consent.
[F.] brought an action for payment against X. for an amount of 336,000 Swiss francs, including reimbursement of her psychotherapy costs, compensation for loss of earnings, and compensation for non-pecuniary damage. The Court of First Instance of the Canton of Geneva dismissed the claim, considering that the action was time-barred under Article 60(1) CO, applied as supplementary cantonal law.
The Geneva Court of Justice upheld the judgment. [F.] filed an appeal in revision with the Federal Tribunal, requesting that the cantonal judgment be annulled, that her claims be declared not time-barred, and that the case be remanded to the cantonal authority for a new decision on the merits.
Considerations
The Federal Tribunal examined the plaintiff's complaint in the revision procedure, verifying whether the Court of Justice had violated federal private law by admitting that the defendant had acted as a public official in the exercise of his official duties and by applying cantonal public law to his liability.
The cantonal court considered that the defendant's liability arose from cantonal public law, as the head of a public hospital, even with regard to his private patients, acts as a public official. The Federal Tribunal ruled that the cantons may derogate from the rules of tort liability and regulate the liability of doctors authorized to have a private practice for acts they…