In simple terms, medical negligence is defined as the professional negligence of a doctor, surgeon, nurse, or other health care worker that causes physical or emotional harm to a patient. Such negligence may take the form of an act or omission of an act of necessary care. Explanation of four elements of medical negligence. In any case of negligence, there must be a duty of care with the injured person.
A duty generally arises when a relationship between the defendant and the plaintiff legally requires the defendant to act in a certain way. In a medical malpractice lawsuit, the legal relationship created is the doctor-patient relationship. When you receive medical treatment, you and the provider or medical facility enter into a doctor-patient relationship. All healthcare providers, including general practitioners and nurses, surgeons, nurses, and specialists, have a specific duty to care for the patients they treat.
The specific duty of care requires that the medical professional or facility treat the patient with the same skill and care as a prudent, reasonable and similarly trained medical professional would do in the same or similar situation. This means that a court will compare a cardiologist with similar cardiologists or require a nurse practitioner to the same level as a similar nurse practitioner. If you receive medical treatment from a healthcare provider or facility, you enter into the doctor-patient relationship and assume a duty of care. After establishing a duty of care, you must show that the healthcare provider or facility breached that duty.
A breach of duty of care occurs when a professional or medical facility does not exercise the degree of skill or medical care that another health professional of the same specialty would have in a similar situation. Once the breach of duty of care has been established, you must demonstrate that the conduct or negligence of the health professional or facility was the direct cause of a new injury or illness, a worsening of your health condition, or an emotional harm you have suffered. You usually demonstrate this by showing that your health condition worsened or that you suffered a medical injury due to the negligence or error of the medical provider and that the condition would not have worsened or occurred without the professional's negligence or error. If the defendant or the defendant health professional can demonstrate that one or more of the items do not exist, then the plaintiff will not prevail.
For the last element of damage, you must show that the medical provider or medical facility caused you quantifiable harm or injury. To file a successful medical malpractice lawsuit, the injured person must show that the healthcare provider was negligent and that there are four elements. An attorney can identify if your case confirms all four elements of medical negligence to hold a negligent professional or facility accountable. This element is established by showing how the doctor failed to meet the standard of medical care.
Regardless of the action or inaction that gives rise to the claim, there are four specific elements that must be met for a negligence claim to be valid. An attorney will seek evidence that shows that these four elements of a medical malpractice case exist while seeking compensation for their client. This is the most difficult element to test and is usually determined with the testimony of medical experts.
