PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY

Professional Liability

Professional Liability

Professional negligence occurs when a successful professional office for neglect. The plaintiffs sued for professional negligence must show that the professional breached its duty of care, resulting in plaintiff's injuries. This chapter examines some of the issues involved in malpractice lawsuits against doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects and accountants. A negligence claim, however, is not the only way in which a professional can be liable for misconduct connected with work. A professional may also constitute a violation of a contract or commit an intentional tort against a patient or client.

Medical malpractice involves the majority of malpractice claims filed in this country. This does not mean that medical professionals are more likely to commit malpractice, but they are the target of more lawsuits - which is not surprising, given the gravity of the situations faced every day by the medical professional. The number of claims against other professionals, however, is increasing and many of the concepts used in the trials were adapted from the context of medical malpractice. Therefore, an understanding of medical malpractice is a good introduction to professional negligence in general. Note that the term medical malpractice does not apply only to physicians. Other health professionals such as psychologists, nurses, dentists and physiotherapists, may also be sued for medical malpractice.

As in other malpractice, the plaintiff sued for medical malpractice must show all four elements necessary to prove negligence: duty of care, breach of duty, injury and proximate causation (see Personal Injury Law: General Chapter examining more than negligence).

Once a doctor or other health care professional agrees to diagnose or treat a patient, he or she has assumed a duty of care to that patient. Physicians have a duty to exercise that reasonable degree of skill, knowledge, and care ordinarily possessed and exercised by the members of the medical profession in similar circumstances. Both general practitioners and medical specialists are held to that level of learning and skills normally owned by specialists and generalists in the same or similar locality under the same or similar circumstances. But what about the duty of the people who are not patients? For example, a physician has a legal obligation to help a stranger choking in a restaurant? The answer is no. Currently, the law imposes no duty to any person, including health professionals, to assist others in most situations. Of course, the doctor can help if he or she ...