What is medical malpractice? Medical malpractice is the provision of substandard, improper or negligent medical care resulting in harm to a patient, by a healthcare professional.

Read on to find out a little more about medical malpractice.

Standard of Medical Care

What is a reasonable standard of care? In many countries it is whether a doctor’s practice accords with that recognised as proper by a responsible body of medical opinion. In some jurisdictions, this medical opinion must also be deemed reasonable and responsible, having some basis in logic. Whatever the definition, if a doctor is found to have provided an adequate standard of care, then there has been no medical negligence and no medical malpractice.

Causation

For a patient to succeed with a medical malpractice claim it is not enough to show that the care they received was substandard, or that the results of the treatment were poor. They must be able to prove that the medical professional’s poor performance caused the unsatisfactory result. This is known as causation, and proving this link between the actions of a medical professional and the harm a patient experiences can be one of the most difficult areas of a medical malpractice claim.

Expert Witnesses

Causation is often decided on the basis of expert evidence. The role of the expert witness is therefore an important one. In some jurisdictions a claimant must present expert medical testimony that establishes the facts of a case before a medical malpractice claim can proceed. This puts the expert witness in a powerful position, and the role is an increasingly demanding one.

Limitation Period

A claim for medical malpractice must be brought before any limitation period ends. The length of the limitation period varies between jurisdictions, but is usually between one and five years. In different countries this time may begin when the incident occurs, when treatment ends, or when the patient discovers the negligence. Clearly these limitation periods have important implications for the length of time that medical records are retained.

Alternative dispute resolution

Many countries are now exploring different ways of resolving medical malpractice claims. These range from no-fault compensation schemes to alternative ways of resolving the dispute, such as mediation or arbitration.

Visit Help & Advice for further information on medicolegal issues.