ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses four elements, namely, the duty of care, breach of duty, damage, and causation in detail. It explains of breach of the duty of care with reference to the standard of care, examines breach of duty under the criminal jurisdiction of the Medical and Dental Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal and the Criminal and Penal Codes. The analysis of breach of duty concludes with an examination of professional liability in the contexts of resource limitation, including human as well as fiscal and technological resources, and other systemic constraints. The chapter also examines medical mishaps and errors of judgment, defences to medical negligence, and hospital liability for medical negligence in Nigeria. It discusses non-adversarial options, such as alternative dispute resolution boards, and systemic initiatives geared towards addressing the incidence of medical injuries as outlined under Nigeria's National Health Insurance Scheme Act. The chapter examines medical negligence in Nigeria, a country which likes most of its counterparts in Sub-Saharan Africa.
