Examples Of Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice lawsuits are an extremely serious topic and have affected numerous patients, doctors, and hospitals across the country. Medical malpractice is defined as “improper, unskilled or negligent treatment of a patient by a physician, dentist, nurse, pharmacist, or other health care professional” (Medical malpractice, n.d.). If a doctor acts negligent and causes harm to a patient, malpractice lawsuits arise. Negligence is the concept of the liability concerning claims of medical malpractice, making this type of litigation part of tort law. Tort law provides that one person may litigate negligence to recover damages for personal injury. Negligence laws are designed to deter careless behavior and also to

Examples of both of these can vary; negligence can happen when any careless act occurs. Some examples include misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, surgical error, unnecessary surgery, malpractice, etc. This is very important to never allow this to happen so that tort laws are not broken and the medical professionals are able to uphold their ethical standards that they must meet.

Negligence is the failure to do something. Many medical cases are filed as medical malpractice suits, “medical malpractice is professional misconduct. Malpractice differs from negligence because it is performed by a license medical professional” (Flight 2). The case of Horton V. Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center can be used as a primary example where negligence, “failure to take reasonable precautions to protect others from the risk of harm” (Flight 33), is visible.

For a plaintiff to triumph a claim of medical malpractice for negligence, four elements must be established. The first element is proving the defendant owed a duty of care to the plaintiff. The second is to show that the defendant breached the duty to the plaintiff. The third is to show that the plaintiff was harmed and experienced damages. Finally, the fourth is to show that the plaintiff was harmed by the actions of the defendant (Greenberg, 2009).

Medical malpractice, is misconduct that usually involves failing of a physician to follow a standard of care, which results in harm to a patient.

This proceeding before a Medical Review Panel, pursuant to La. Rev. Stat. §§ 40:1299.41, et seq., is brought by Jimmy Martinez against multiple health care providers, including Dr. Mark Kappelman, a qualified health care provider entitled to have the claim filed against him reviewed by this Panel. The claims made against Dr. Kappelman are mere allegations without support and proof. In a medical malpractice case the burden of proof is on the claimant to establish that Dr. Mark Kappelman’s actions in this matter fell below the standard of care required of similar health care providers. The claimant also bears the burden of proving whether any such alleged act or acts of negligence caused any injuries. It is the duty of the

Medical Malpractice consists of negligence committed by a medical professional. There are many possible events that can occur in the practice of medicine. When physician make a medical error it could possible result in an injury. We often put our faith in doctor to make the right medical decision for us. However, medical malpractice does not always hold up since some patient can take advance of the system. There are some defenses that exist when talking about the medical malpractice.

Malpractice is the failure to provide professional services with the skill usually exhibited by responsible and careful members of the profession, resulting in injury, loss, or damage to the party contracting those services. Though accountants, lawyers, and other professionals can be charged with malpractice, the term is most commonly associated with medical professionals (e.g., doctors, nurses, hospital technicians.) Liability in malpractice depends on whether "a physician meets a legally required standard of care" (Greenberg 2011). Most medical malpractice suits are for negligence on the part of medical professionals in providing this expected level of care. In recent decades, partially as a consequence of medical costs, there has been a considerable expansion of medical malpractice suits, though the number of malpractice claims represents only a small percentage (about 3%) of all cases of actual negligence. State tort provisions do "influence litigation risk and malpractice insurance is used to mitigate this risk" (Linville 2011).

There is a line however that can be crossed when negligence then becomes a criminal conduct. To cross the line from civil to criminal negligence there has to be a gross deviation from the standard of care. This is where the importance of the standard of care comes into play, this is where the jury finds that the physician could be held under negligence. The American Medical Association has a strong values against negligence, although they are opposed to the prosecution of that negligence, the AMA however concedes that the recklessness in conduct should be criminally culpable. When it comes to criminal negligence, civil liability is met, in this case the claim allows the patient to receive compensation for their injuries and it also gives the physician the chance to remodel their standards of care without having to face the penalties of a prison term (London Amburn Attorneys at Law,

It is not guaranteed that your physician or any other health professional will provide you with the valued care at all times even if they truly attempted to. In this situation, which could be detrimental to a person's health and life brings up the ongoing trend of medical malpractice suits. Medical malpractice can occur on different occasions. The various types of medical malpractice include: plastic and cosmetic surgery, prescription drug error, birth injuries, obstetric malpractice, and surgical as well as diagnosis errors. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, Americans file more than 17,000 medical malpractice lawsuits a year. If those lawsuits are won in favor of the patient, it can result in extreme out of pocket costs for the hospital that the health provider is associated with. In a 2005 medical malpractice case, the jury awarded 4.5 million to a family of a boy born with severe brain damage after a traumatic delivery in 1996. Due to the poor delivery, the boy now suffers from cerebral palsy and functions at the level of a

In the healthcare field, one of the rudimentary rules first learned is maleficent, “to do no harm.” However, medical malpractice seems to be skyrocketing throughout the years. In 2010, according to the American Medical Association (AMA), the United States was experiencing its third full blown medicine liability crisis with many physicians’ practices becoming limited due to increasing malpractice costs (Ellington, 2010). According to Sage (2012), United States has the most expensive healthcare system in the world and a high rate of litigation. Under the healthcare delivery system, it is viewed as far from perfect and the primary cause for high unjustified medical spending. As well as, the largest financial damages awarded to successful plaintiffs

According to FindLaw.com, (2016) medical malpractice “is only actionable if a medical provider or facility negligently provided care that resulted in injury or death”. Given the parameters of the question the death qualifies for malpractice. However, so long as the method of treatment is within the standard of care for that particular area and circumstances, then there is no negligence; therefore, no malpractice.

Medical malpractices are usually presented when patients claim they have been injured or wounded because of deprived medical care or incorrect findings from a healthcare worker such as a

Medical malpractice happens when a hospital, doctor or other health care professional, perform negligence through their practice and causes an injury to a patient, it may be the result of mistakes in diagnosis, management and after care or health management. (Podgers, 2007)

The malpractice case that was discussed in the chapter five case study, is something that hospitals need to consider when creating procedure for their health records because they need to ensure that their records are meeting specific standards. Accident or unexpected outcomes in healthcare happen and the care organization needs to understand how the litigation process works and how evidence is used. In order to fully understand the malpractice case involving General Hospital and the patient, we must first discuss what evidence is, how it is accessed, and how a health record fits into the realm of evidence. According to the Oxford Dictionary, Evidence in law is “Information drawn from personal testimony, a