Rights Corner
Medical malpractice can be
a serious issue
Medical malpractice is a term that refers to any medical mistake made by a doctor, or other medical professional, that leads to personal injury or wrongful death. Medical malpractice can be the result of negligence on the part of the doctor, nurse, hospital, or other medical staff. Medical negligence occurs when medical personnel fail to perform their duties in a way that meet the standards of conduct for the medical profession.
In order to have a valid medical malpractice case, there are typically four fundamental elements that must be present. They are
1. duty,
2. medical negligence,
3. Patient injury and
4. Causation.
Duty is a legal element that establishes a requirement between a doctor, nurse or other medical professional and their patient to treat said patient to the accepted medical standard of care.
Medical negligence is a medical professional's deviation from the accepted medical standard of care.
These standards have been developed over hundreds of years of medical study. If a doctor or other medical professional does not adhere to these standards, then he or she is said to be negligent.
Undue injury is a requisite of a meritorious medical malpractice claim. Medical malpractice is a form of civil tort, and all tort claims require some form of damages for which to seek compensation or other legal remedy.
The fourth part of building a good medical malpractice case is showing how the medical negligence caused undue injury to the patient. Causation means that the health care professional's breach of the standard of care caused or contributed to causing some harm to the patient.
Of course, in reality, medical malpractice cases are very complex. The laws are fairly straight forward, but proving the entire element in practice is very difficult. It is important for anyone considering a medical malpractice lawsuit to talk to an experienced medical malpractice lawyer to evaluate the case and get real legal advice and options.
In Bangladesh, the exercise of medical malpractice is a common phenomenon. Everyday lots of people are becoming victims of medical malpractice. Lack of proper knowledge about medical exercise and absence of comprehensive law indulged the professionals to commit such malpractice. In addition, there is no proper co-coordinating body to regulate such practice. In this situation a comprehensive law relating to medical malpractice can enforce the rights of the innocent victims.
Compiled by Law Desk.
