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Medical malpractice
Medical malpractice is a legal cause of action that occurs when a medical or health care professional, through a negligent act or omission, deviates from standards in their profession, thereby causing injury or death to a patient. The negligence might arise from errors in diagnosis, treatment, aftercare or health management. An act of medical malpractice usually has three characteristics.
Standard of careIn tort law, the standard of care is the only degree of prudence and caution required of an individual who is under a duty of care. The requirements of the standard are closely dependent on circumstances. Whether the standard of care has been breached is determined by the trier of fact, and is usually phrased in terms of the reasonable person; this is sometimes labeled as the "reasonable physician standard".
Informed consentInformed consent is an applied ethics principle that a person must have sufficient information and understanding before making decisions about accepting risk. Pertinent information may include risks and benefits of treatments, alternative treatments, the patient's role in treatment, and their right to refuse treatment. In most systems, healthcare providers have a legal and ethical responsibility to ensure that a patient's consent is informed.
TortLegal claim of civil wrongA tort is a civil wrong, other than breach of contract, that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with criminal wrongs that are punishable by the state. While criminal law aims to punish individuals who commit crimes, tort law aims to compensate individuals who suffer harm as a result of the actions of others.
MalpracticeIn the law of torts, malpractice, also known as professional negligence, is an "instance of negligence or incompetence on the part of a professional".
Common lawThe common law is the system of judge-madelaw that originates in the King's courts of medieval England and which has since been received to the former colonies of the British Empire. During the 12th century, Henry II established a system of travelling judges, who decided on cases and enforced a set of laws common to all England.
Medical billingMedical billing, a payment process in the United States healthcare system, is the process of reviewing a patient's medical records and using information about their diagnoses and procedures to determine which services are billable and to whom they are billed. This bill is called a claim.
InjuryInjury is physiological damage to an organism. The response to injury, whether in humans, in other animals, in plants, in fungi, or in single-celled eukaryotes such as choanoflagellates, is substantially shared, implying that the mechanisms are ancient. Injuries can be caused in many ways, including mechanical trauma, toxins, interactions with other organisms, or abiotic factors in the environment.
DisabilityImpairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictionsPictographs used by the United States National Park Service for wheelchair accessibility, low vision access and sign language interpretation.Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society.
PainPain is a distressing bodily feeling often caused by intense or damaging stimuli. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotionalexperience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage." Pain motivates animals to withdraw from damaging situations, to protect a damaged body part while it heals, and to avoid similar experiences in the future.DamageDamage is any change in a thing, often a physical object, that degrades it away from its initial state. It can broadly be defined as "changes introduced into a system that adversely affect its current or future performance". Damage "does not necessarily imply total loss of system functionality, but rather that the system is no longer operating in its optimal manner".
SufferingSuffering, or pain in a broad sense, may be an experience of unpleasantness or aversion, possibly associated with the perception of harm or threat of harm in an individual. Suffering is the basic element that makes up the negative valence of affective phenomena. The opposite of suffering is pleasure or happiness. Suffering is often categorized as physical or mental. It may come in all degrees of intensity, from mild to intolerable.
IncomeIncome is the consumption and saving opportunity gained by an entity within a specified timeframe, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. Income is difficult to define conceptually and the definition may be different across fields. For example, a person's income in an economic sense may be different from their income as defined by law.
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