Medical Malpractice from a Legal Perspective

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that medical malpractice only falls within the realms of negligence that occurs in the context of medical or health care, even though the basic legal issues involved in medical malpractice coincide with the legal elements that encompass common negligence. The paper further explains that there are four basic factors comprising medical malpractice that mirror those which define common negligence, but that there are additional requirements involved that expressly apply to negligence in a medical context. The paper then points out that, as a result of these additional requirements, medical malpractice cases also present many unique, complex and confusing issues that are exclusive to the medical profession. Next the paper elucidates on the issues, concluding that ultimately everything boils down to the question of which is more important;the rights of patients to expect quality treatment, or the obligation of physicians to provide it.

From the Paper:

"Medical malpractice is commonly defined as negligence on the part of a physician, hospital or other health care professional that results in physical or emotional damage to that health care professional's patient. The negligent failure in medical malpractice cases can occur under many different circumstances. These include, but are not limited to: an unnecessary delay in, or the complete failure to diagnose a particular disease or ailment, a surgical error during an operative procedure, failure on the part of the physician to gain the informed consent of the patient to perform surgery, and/or a failure to properly treat an ailment once it has been diagnosed. Improper use of a medical device or implant can also be grounds for a medical malpractice suit (Robertson, 1985)."

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