Bioethics

 

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Law & Medicine

 

 

Negligence

 

 

Definition

The definition of negligence in medico-legal cases is conduct that falls below the standard established by law for protection against unreasonable risk of harm.

Four major elements are required for a negligence action:

1. Duty - that the health care practitioner (HCP) owes a duty of care to the patient.

2. That the applicable standard of carrying out that duty was breached.

3. Causation (the injury arose as a result of that breach of duty).

4. Injury

There are "Good Samaritan statutes" where the standard of care is changed.  A HCP has to be guilty of gross negligence to run into problems.

 

Duty:

Duty is generally defined by the nature of the professional relationship.

There are different zones of duty for the HCP:

 

 

 

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