Featured News 2013 Medical Malpractice: Understanding the Doctor’s Duty of Care

Medical Malpractice: Understanding the Doctor’s Duty of Care

When addressing the topic of medical malpractice, it is absolutely essential that those involved understand the many factors that are in place regarding the realm of medical care, the doctor’s responsibility, negligence and everything in between. It is for this reason, that if you believe you or a loved one are a victim of medical malpractice that you contact a lawyer as soon as possible to further discuss your situation and to determine if you have a case. Hiring a skilled legal representative with specific experience in this field is essential due to the many details that can be involved, both legal and medical.

The doctor’s duty of care essentially mans that they are under a very specific legal obligation to give their patients the standard of care that is needed at the time. This means that reasonable care must be used on each patient, and therefore doing whatever they can to prevent a foreseeable incident from harming their patient. Obviously, in the world of medicine mistakes are made, new discoveries are found that can cause complications, etc. however, in the event that a doctor or any other medical professional neglects to meet the reasonable standard of care, they are deemed negligent and therefore liable for medical malpractice.

In the event a patient believes that they are victims of malpractice, they will then need to prove that their doctor, nurse, technician, etc breached a duty of care.

It is important to realize that in order for a doctor to be held responsible for a duty of care, they must have specifically owed that patient competency to perform a specific medical duty in order for them to be held responsible. For example, if you ran into your doctor at the grocery store and told them your systems and they said it could be this or that, and then you decide to take medications based on their opinion, your injury would not be considered as their fault. However, if you went in to the doctors office and had numerous tests done for your symptoms of cancer and yet they did nothing and then down the road you are suffering extensively because of their failure to diagnose, then the doctor may be liable for your injury. Another example of responsibility, or duty of care, is if a doctor is eating dinner at a restaurant when another guest begins chocking. They may choose for whatever reason not to offer assistance, and in the event the person suffers illness because no one offered CPR on time, they cannot claim that the doctor had a duty to offer medical care.

In order to prove that you are a victim of medical malpractice, then it is required of you to prove that the doctor did not meet the necessary and expected duty of care during your treatment and therefore was negligent in your care.

Another issue to be aware of is the fact that when there is medical malpractice, your doctor may not be the only one responsible for your pain and suffering. In many situations, both the doctor and their employer (the hospital) will be held responsible as well. Vicarious liability is when the hospital is considered negligent because the doctor was on their staff. However, it is also important to realize that many doctors within hospital are merely staff and not actual employees, and therefore the hospital may not be responsible in those unique situations.

For more information regarding the doctors duty of care, please use our website to find a medical malpractice attorney near you!

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