ABSTRACT

Medical malpractice may be defined, broadly, as any unjustified act or failure to act upon the part of a doctor or other healthcare worker which results in harm to the patient. This chapter considers the means, under the civil law, by which a victim of such malpractice may pursue a claim for redress, and the difficulties that lie in his way. Medical negligence cases are often very expensive to bring, because of the technical and complex nature of the litigation. The patient must establish that the defendant, who may be a doctor, nurse, NHS trust, or a health authority, owed him a legal duty of care. An exception to the principle, that a doctor will be judged according to the standard of reasonably experienced doctors in their field, is provided by emergency treatment. Frequently patients may allege that they were injured, not through negligence on a doctor's part, but by medicinal drugs that they were given during treatment.