Made Moon Blog

For some time now medical malpractice has been hitting the news, quite a few complaints have been registered in a number of states. Medical malpractice is professional negligence by an act or omission by a health care provider in which care provided moves away from the accepted standards of practice in the medical community, thereby causing injury or death to the patient.

There are standards and regulations for medical malpractice that vary by country and jurisdiction within countries. Medical professionals and health care providers are required to maintain professional liability insurance to compensate the risk and costs of lawsuits based on medical malpractice.

If in the event a patient (plaintiff) has suffered injury during a medical procedure, he can contact any law office to get legal advice on how he / she can proceed. Claims can be brought against clinics, hospitals, managed care organizations or medical corporations for the mistakes of their employers or staff.

There are four main elements that a plaintiff must establish for a California medical malpractice claim.

1. A duty that was owed. A hospital or health care provider normally undertakes a legal duty when a patient is under treatment in the hospital facility.

2. A duty that has been breached, where the hospital or clinic has failed to conform to the relevant standard of care.

3. The breach resulted in injury.

4. Damages, without damages (pecuniary or emotional) there is no basis for a claim.

There are many supporters of medical liability reform who believe that laws based on the California’s Medical Injury Recovery & Compensation Act (MICRA) should be passed at the federal level. According to Lisa Maas, executive director of Californians Allied for Patients Protection, the California medical malpractice law is deemed to be the perfect model for federal medical malpractice reform.