Medical malpractice is a
broad term which covers both the
public perception of adverse events
during
medical care, and a legal
definition of
negligence.In common with
other forms of civil claims for
negligence, in order to succeed in a
claim (lawsuit)
the claimant (plaintiff) must
successfully demonstrate three
things:
- That the doctor failed in
his/her duty of care towards the
patient: they failed to do
something that a reasonably
prudent doctor in the same field
would have done under the same
or similar circumstances, or
that the doctor did something
that no reasonably prudent
doctor in the same field would
have done under the same or
similar circumstances.
- That some harm was caused by
this failure to comply with the
duty of care, and that the harm
risked by such misconduct was
reasonably foreseeable at the
time.
- The amount of damages that
would reasonably compensate the
plaintiff for the harm caused by
the malpractice.
A doctor must be shown to have
acted in accordance with a
reasonable body of medical opinion.
This is known as the
Bolam Test.
Expert witnesses usually are
required to testify in malpractice
cases. Expert witnesses are allowed
to testify in terms of opinions,
while lay witnesses must confine
their testimony to things they
perceived with their own senses.
Witnesses generally are qualified as
experts if they have sufficient
education, training, and experience
in the field and their testimonial
opinions would assist the fact
finder
(judge or jury), in determining a
contested issue. The courts
generally hold that lay jurors or
judges, untrained in medicine, are
not adequately equipped to decide
whether the doctor deviated from the
requisite standards without being
guided by expert witnesses in the
field. Expert witnesses in some
instances may be independent experts
from the same field of medicine as
the defendant. However, usually the
plaintiff and the defendant will
hire their own experts, who will
have conflicting opinions. It is up
to the fact finder to sort out which
opinions to accept from those that
are incapable of belief.
In the
United Kingdom such cases are
heard by a single judge; in other
jurisdictions, they may be heard by
a
jury.
Medical malpractice law is
generally defined as those laws
having to do with medical
malpractice. These laws are differ
from country to country. There are
various malpractice lawsuits that
usually weed-out out the dangerous
doctors in the US. One case that
happened pretty recently, involved a
man getting a intestinal surgery,
and one of the doctors left a needle
lodged in between the liver and the
stomach. The patient sued the doctor
for the malpractice and won. The
patient said in his testimony, "I
sometimes feel a pinch in my stomach
and I don't know if that is
indigestion or the needle
penetrating one of my organs."
