What is the Standard of Care in a Medical Malpractice Case?
In a med mal action, we look to see if there has been a breach of a duty. This duty is that of providing a requisite standard of care. Many believe this means the best care. That isn't the case. Instead, it is the duty that a reasonably competent health care professional would provide. The standard also follows the setting. The standard for a major metropolitan medical center with more than a thousand beds, with multiple campuses and limitless resources for diagnostic imaging, onsite labwork, and other testing is higher than a small rural hospital that does not have onsite MRI or specialists on duty. The standard considers the judgment of the medical professional, in terms of whether a similarly educated, trained, experienced practitioner in the same or similar position would have acted similarly.The elements of a medical malpractice case are conceptually similar to other cases based in general negligence. These elements are: