How Doctor’s Compensate Medical Negligence
Posted in Finance on August 31st, 2011 by adminYour life is at risk when the medical practitioner has committed medical negligence when trying to heal you from any aches or suffering that you might be undergoing. The medical negligence is applied when a patient is treated under substandard equipments or the rehabilitation does not qualify to the standards set internationally for every medical practitioner. Medical negligence also occurs when a medical provider fails to exercise the kind of care and prudence that other providers in the same field of medicine provide. Medical negligence can occur in the form of recklessness, inattentiveness, or an omission. Such negligence can happen anytime and anywhere. It can happen in university clinics, check up with a doctor or even in dental clinics which result to dental negligence claims.
Common types of clinical negligence include misdiagnosis, failure to provide proper treatment of a patient’s ailment, administration of the wrong medication, and the failure to inform the patient of the risks associated with a treatment or with information about alternative treatments. To establish that the medical practitioner was negligent, the Tort Law requires the following to be established;
1. The healthcare provider owed a duty to the plaintiff;
2. The healthcare provider breached the duty;
3. The healthcare provider’s breach caused the injury; and
4. The patient suffered damages because of the defendant’s negligence.
Under the Tort Law, medical practitioners are required to exercise highest degree of diligence in the exercise of their profession. A wrong move might lead to the death of the patient or the worsening of his injury that could have been treated easily. When medical negligence is very apparent, like death, the injured relatives may use the doctrin of res ipsa loquitor to establish negligence. As provided in the Tort Law, res ipsa loquitor means “the thing speaks for itself.” Its function is to aid the plaintiff in proving the elements of a medical negligence case by circumstantial evidence. When the injury itself presents a reasonable basis for the inference that the medical provider breached the duty of care, a claimant may use this doctrine to establish fault. The claimant must prove the following to establish medical negligence using res ipsa loquitur:
1. The type of injury would not usually occur in the absence of negligence;
2. The instrumentality that caused the injury was in the sole control of the defendant; and
3. The plaintiff’s conduct did not produce or contribute to the injury.