The term “medical negligence” is little more than an alternative to the term “medical malpractice.” Both of these terms can be used interchangeably and they both refer to negligent medical care by a professional or a medical facility which results in injury or death of a patient. In cases of medical negligence the injured party or the direct relatives of the injured party can pursue legal action, to do so effectively the plaintiff will have to hire Gurnee medical malpractice lawyers to represent them.
It is a given that patients are legally entitled to a certain standard of medical care. In the event medical personnel, this includes doctors and nurses, as well as the medical facility fail in their duty to provide such care this can be seen in the eyes of the law as negligence. Negligence can occur as a direct result of erroneous or irresponsible actions or conversely, the direct result of actions that should have been taken but were not.
Medical malpractice claims are often the result of inadequate skill or care or unnecessary speed. Anyone who can be considered as an integral component of a patient’s health care can be held liable for malpractice. It is not only the doctors, nurses and medical specialists that can be found negligent in their actions; medical facilities such as hospitals and clinics as well as those held responsible for the psychological well being of patients can also be charged.
Gurnee medical malpractice lawyers know that the actions of the accused are weighed against the level of professional competency of his or her peers when the circumstances are the same or similar. This simply means that a cardiac surgeon will be judged using the standards of other cardiac surgeons faced with similar circumstances. The same thing holds true when a primary care physician or general practitioner elects to perform a procedure which would normally be the responsibility of a specialist. In a case of this nature the general practitioner would be judged against the same standards that the referenced specialist would be held to.
Medical negligence or malpractice is not something that can be claimed by a patient who is dissatisfied with the outcome of medical care. A doctor cannot be charged with medical malpractice if he failed to cure a specific condition. The individual claiming negligence must have suffered harm; harm that would never have been experienced if the patient had never been subjected to a negligent act on the part of the medical professional or facility.
