The Difference Between Medical Malpractice and Negligence

When dealing with the consequences of medical inadequacy, it’s hard to focus on such technicalities. Not only challenging but annoying and frustrating, too. Even though it’s important to remember that if you want to get the compensation you deserve and set things straight, you need to know which case you should be filing for. It will determine your choice of attorney and their course of action when it comes to the patient. This article will walk you through everything you’ll need to know without overwhelming you with the technicalities.

General Overview

Medical malpractice is legally defined as an act committed by a medical professional during treatment that falls below the acceptable standard of practice and harms the patient. An example of this is a doctor carrying out unnecessary procedures to get paid more. On the other hand, medical negligence is when there is a failure in maintaining an acceptable standard of care due to ignorance or lack of knowledge. If the doctor from the previous example carried out the unnecessary surgery because they didn’t know any better, that would qualify as negligence.

Intent

If you’ve noticed, through the use of the examples and definitions above, one can develop the critical difference between medical malpractice and negligence, and that is intent. Medical malpractice is an active act that a doctor or a nurse commits knowingly. However, if you look closely at the definition of negligence in medical law, you’d see that it’s more passive. It’s a consequence of neglected duties and failure to uphold standards. While it might not matter to the victim since they got harmed, either way, it matters to their lawyer because the intent is what files the case under one type or the other. This, in turn, defines how a lawyer will go about the case to make sure you get the best results.

Evidence Gathering

As we’ve previously mentioned, both malpractice and negligence cases are judged based on four elements: duty, deviation, damages, and direct cause. The difference lies in the details of each component. When it comes to responsibility, your lawyer needs to prove that the healthcare professional’s duty was to care for you. Suppose you were filing for a medical malpractice case. In that case, you might need to prove that the medical professional took you in a while knowingly withholding information that would have otherwise caused you to opt for a different facility. However, with negligence and some malpractice cases, you only need to prove that they had a duty towards you. The more insight your legal team has into the specific actions and omissions involved, the stronger your case will be. Well-trained cosmetic procedure injury lawyers will know how to interpret medical records, consult with experts, and uncover whether the provider failed to meet the standard of care. This is especially important in cosmetic procedures, where consent forms and expectations often blur the lines of accountability. With the right approach, your lawyer can clarify what went wrong and build a compelling case for compensation.

Deviation

In a legal sense, proving deviation means showing how the professional or the facility failed to uphold the standard of care that should have been given to you. For malpractice cases, this mainly involves proving the failure, which could be anything from overprescribing medications and doses to knowingly neglecting to use clean instruments during surgery. However, a negligence case would only require you to prove how a facility has failed to provide adequate care. To strengthen your case, your lawyer might ask an expert witness to testify in court. When it comes to relative terms, having an industry expert draw clear lines between what is considered below industry-standard helps a lot.

Damages

Damages are all about showing the extent of harm done to you or your loved ones due to your healthcare professional’s malpractice or negligence. Regardless of the type of case, you’ll need as much evidence of the damage as possible. This includes receipts, prescriptions, and documentation of the initial mistake and the corrective measures taken (if any have been taken). It also contains testimonies from industry experts regarding proper protocol. Whether financial or physical, you need to include the evidence.

Direct Cause

Direct cause involves proving that the damages that affected you or your loved ones were the immediate cause of the malpractice or negligence you’ve already proven exists. In other words, if you suffer a car accident due to a prescribed medicine that causes drowsiness, you can’t sue for either type of case. In this case, the medication was prescribed by your doctor, but you were responsible for the damage. Nevertheless, if they operate with unsanitized equipment and cause an infection, you have all the right to sue, but the existence of intent will determine your case type.

Having said all of the above, the best thing you can do until you schedule a consultation with an attorney is to collect evidence and proof. When you go to the consultation, having those receipts and prescriptions will help the attorney determine if you have a case or not. During the talk itself, make sure you’re communicating your thoughts as clearly as possible and that they’re making an effort to understand what you mean. A consultation is the best way to know whether or not the attorney in front of you will be a good fit or not. 

Related Articles:

• Common Defenses of a Medical Malpractice Injury Claim
• How to Check if Your Doctor Has Been Sued for Medical Malpractice