What is Medical Malpractice?: "Medical malpractice, also referred to as medical negligence, is a term that broadly refers to mistakes made by health care providers whose performance of duties deviate from the standard of practice within the medical community and cause harm to a patient or patients.
These oversights may include misdiagnoses of a condition or disease, failure to inform the patient of the risks of a procedure or prescribed drug, negligently performing a procedure, prescribing a drug that could harm the patient due to preexisting conditions or allergies, or prescribing the wrong dosage of a drug (such as anesthesia).
In general, there are three criteria to be met to have a legitimate claim of medical malpractice:
1) The health care provider failed his duty toward the patient and
provided negligent care
2) The patient realized recognizable harm or loss from this care
3) The damages are a result of the doctor's mistake or misjudgment
Negligence by a health care provider can include an error in diagnosis, treatment, or illness management. A legal case for medical malpractice can be brought against:
- The doctor (if his or her actions deviated from generally
accepted standards of practice)
- The hospital (if improper care or inadequate training
existed)
- Local, state or federal agencies that operate hospital
facilities.
- Nursing Homes or extended care facilities (failure to
provide proper fall protection, failure to prevent bed
sores
Negligence can be the performance of an act or the failure to act. Negligence requires a state of mind that is found to be careless, inattentive, or otherwise reckless in its attitude toward others. Doctors can make mistakes that are minor and although these may represent an error, may not give rise to a legal claim."
