Malpractice Cases Are Not Filed Against Physicians

Malpractice cases are not filed against physicians alone, there can be occasions during regular patient care that a nurse might come under attack for failure to follow standards of care and this can result in a malpractice case. The six elements on malpractice as are follows:

Duty:

This refers to the relationship that the nurse has with the patient or in other words, it needs to be established that the nurse has the duty to provide care as the patient demanded. "Duty is the obligation of due care owed by one person to another as appropriate for the circumstances and as may be dictated by the law." (Sharpe, p. 18) The plaintiff must establish that the defendant had a legal obligation to provide expected care.

Foreseeability:

This refers to the link that is expected to exist between nurse's actions and the injury caused. In other words, the results of nurse's action should be foreseeable by an average reasonable person. It means that "a reasonable prudent person of average intelligence should realize and anticipate the nature and extent of the consequences of his or her actions." (Sharpe, p. 19)

Breach of Duty:

When a malpractice case emerges, the plaintiff needs to prove breach of duty. Breach of duty is the failure of the nurse to follow standards of care resulting in an injury to the patient. The violation of standards show that nurse failed to act in a responsible manner as her experience and education demanded and hence caused injury to the patient.

Injury:

Injury is the most important element of malpractice. The patient must be able to demonstrate that he or she suffered some physical, emotional or economic injury due to nurse's actions. This key element makes or breaks a case. If the patient has visible injury emerging from nurse's care, all other elements might become of secondary importance.

Causation:

Causation refers to the causal link between breach of duty and the resulting injury. For example if the breach of duty is established but that in it had no link to the injury being described, then there is no causal link whatsoever. In order to establish malpractice, this link should be present and the patient must be able to demonstrate how the cause and result are connected.

Damages:

This is the last element and obviously has a great deal of importance. It refers to the damages that can be claimed by the patient due to significant injury caused by nurse's breach of duty. This may include death, deformity, prolonged pain or added cost of medical care.