Law and Healthcare

Law and Healthcare

Strayer University

Negligence is the most common type of malpractice that providers encounter in the healthcare field (Showalter, 2007). Negligence is practice which falls below the standard established for the protection of others against unreasonable risk of harm. In cases of negligence it is essential that the plaintiff provide the evidence necessary to prove negligence. The four types of proof necessary to prove medical negligence are duty of care, breach of duty, injury, and causation. Duty of care requires that healthcare professionals provide services that are in line with acceptable standards of practice and possess the knowledge and skills of average physicians in the same area of practice. An Illinois court identified standard of care in the following way: “[a] physician must possess and apply the knowledge, skill, and care of a reasonably well qualified physician in the relevant medical community.” (Purtill v. Hess, 1986). The standard of care varies across the country and among specialties. For example, the standard of care would be different for a general practitioner than it would be for a neurosurgeon. Similarly, physicians in New York City would be subject to a different standard of care than a physician practicing in a rural area of Utah for example. However, with the evolution of technology a national standard has been created that has changed the expectations related to standard of care (Showalter, 2007). The internet has made resources more accessible to physicians in rural areas such as the National Institute of Health (NIH) which provides practice guidelines and recommendations for diagnosis and care of health conditions. The internet has also allowed for increased networking and consultation with colleagues via e-mail and services such as Skype. The “School Rule” is the mechanism for determining standards of care within specialties. As stated previously, there are different standards for different areas of medicine....