Medical Malpractice; Malpractice?
... or see on TV, I ask myself, was this really malpractice or just a way for someone to gain ease in knowing something didn’t go their way, or to receive easy money in their pocket. The way patients view their cases is always a benefiting factor in the verdict. It is not always because the physician did not administer high quality medical care but also because patients normally have an unrealistic expectation of how the treatments will work. This is caused a lot by the complex technology and advanced medical equipment that modern medical facilities contain. Also, repeated advertisements of great medical achievements and breakthroughs uphold the image of modern physicians as almighty wizards who can cure any disease and correct almost any physical problem in patients. This is why, today, patients go to doctors with their problems expecting to be cured immediately and with no trace of previous sickness. In spite of this, when these expectations are not met the patients will look to the legal system for compensation. When looking at the four elements necessary to be proven in a malpractice case, the duty of care and breach of duty are the most inadequate facts, and to prove them it takes a great deal of persuading. Once a doctor agrees to diagnose and treat a patient, the physician has assumed a duty of care toward that patient, however a doctor does not have a legal duty to help a stranger choking in a restaurant, although they can chose to help, and in most cases would. Proving the breach of duty has a lot to do with what exactly his duty of care was in the first place, then after, proving that the doctor breached this duty by showing what a reasonably competent physician would have done in a similar situation. Alas, most judges and jurors do not know what a professional physician would do in any case, and to what is acceptable medical practice. As a result, many medical malpractice cases become a quarrel between other physicians testifying as to whether the defendant breached their duty or not. Injury and proximate cause are not as hard to prove, although proximate cause is just as necessary. In order for the plaintiff to win their case, they must prove that it was the physician’s actions that caused the injury and that without which the injury would not have occurred. Even so, sometimes causing an injury is not always medical ...