Medical malpractice is the cause of legal action that occurs when a medical professional or health care deviates from the standard in his profession, thus causing injury to the patient.
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Medical malpractice law
In the jurisdiction of general law, medical malpractice obligations are usually based on the law of negligence.
Although the medical malpractice law differs significantly among countries, because the broad public rules obligation follows when health care practitioners do not demonstrate fair, reasonable and competent skill levels when providing medical care to patients. If a practitioner considers himself as a specialist, a higher level of skill is required. Jurisdictions also increasingly accept claims based on informed consent, filed by patients stating that they are not adequately informed about the risks of medical procedures before approving treatment.
Because legislation differs according to jurisdiction, certain professionals who may be targeted by medical malpractice actions will vary depending on where the action is filed. Among the potentially responsible professionals under medical malpractice law is,
- Medical Practitioners - including doctors, surgeons, psychiatrists, and dentists.
- Nurse, nurse practitioner, and physician assistant.
- Allied health experts - including physiotherapists, osteopaths, chiropractors, podiatrists, occupational therapists, social workers, psychologists, pharmacists, ophthalmologists, midwives, and medical radiation practitioners.
Among the acts or omissions that potentially support medical malpractice claims are failure to diagnose illness or medical condition appropriately, failure to provide appropriate treatment for medical conditions, and unnatural delays in treating diagnosed medical conditions. In some jurisdictions medical malpractice action may be permitted even without errors from the physician, based on the principles of informed consent, in which the patient is not informed of the possible consequences of the treatment program and will refuse medical treatment having the precise information provided previously.
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Medical malpractice consequences
Consequences for patients and doctors vary by country.
- In Canada, all provinces except Quebec's basic medical malpractice responsibility for negligence, while Quebec follows the civil law system.
- Germany allows patients who are injured due to medical negligence to take personal action against the provider in contract, error, or both.
- Sweden has implemented a no-fault system to compensate people injured by medical care. Patients wishing to bring a malpractice claim may choose between filing a traditional claim or no false claim.
- In New Zealand, the Accident Compensation Company does not provide fault compensation to the victim.
- In the United States, law suit lawsuits can be used to seek compensation for malpractice. The compensation award in the United States tends to be far greater than the rewards for similar injuries in other countries.
The no-fault system can compensate people who have significantly worse medical outcomes than anticipated in the circumstances, or where there is evidence of injury resulting from a medical error, regardless of whether malpractice occurs or not. Some there are no fault systems that are limited to certain types of injuries, such as birth injury or vaccine injury.
Demographics
Medico-legal actions in some countries are more common against male doctors than women (odds ratio 2.45).
See also
- Medical malpractice in the United States
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia