Medical negligence or malpractice is negligence committed by a professional health care provider - a doctor, nurse, dentist, psychiatrist, podiatrist, hospital or hospital worker - whose performance or duties departs from a standard of care of those with similar training and experience, resulting in harm to a patient. Medical negligence can result from a failure to act or from acting improperly.
What is negligence?
Negligence is the failure to use reasonable care, or a failure to use the same degree of care that a reasonably prudent person (i.e. doctor) would use under same or similar circumstances.
Some types of medical negligence may be:
- Delay in Diagnosis
- Missed diagnosis
- Surgical error
- Anesthesia error
- Improper consent before a procedure
- Birth injury, including cerebral palsy and brain damage
