This chapter explores the complex and evolving landscape of legal liability in modern healthcare systems, where the question of who bears responsibility for medical errors—individual practitioners or healthcare institutions—has significant implications for patient safety, professional accountability, and institutional governance. Through a comparative analysis of legal doctrines across jurisdictions, including common-law and civil-law systems, the chapter illustrates how liability frameworks vary based on statutory regulations, judicial precedents, and the balance between tort law and contractual obligations. It also quantifies the global burden of malpractice litigation, demonstrating the economic and organizational impact on hospitals in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Drawing on key examples like the US doctrine of respondeat superior, the United Kingdom’s NHS liability system, and Switzerland’s individual-fault paradigm, the chapter highlights the limitations of traditional legal models in addressing the systemic nature of many medical errors. Emphasis is placed on the growing recognition of preventable harm as a public health concern and the tension between punitive legal responses and emerging strategies focused on transparency, institutional accountability, and learning. Ultimately, the chapter calls for a balanced, context-sensitive approach to liability that aligns legal responsibility with contemporary understandings of healthcare delivery, complexity, and risk.