Medical Malpractice and Standard of Care

If you suspect that a medical professional has breached the minimum standard of care, consult an experienced somekeyword right away.

For any person seeking medical care, there are clear and reasonable expectations: that the treatment will improve their condition, if improvement is possible; that the professionals at the healthcare facility are properly trained and licensed; that they uphold the standards of their profession in the delivery of care. Also, that the facility is hygienic and well managed.


These expectations are basically the same thing as the -standard of care- that plays a key role in medical malpractice litigation. When a facility such as a hospital or health care providers - physicians, nurses, therapists, chiropractors, psychiatrists and mental health counselors - fail to live up to these standards, it opens the door to serious medical errors that lead to injury.


Those standards are not mere hopes or perceptions. While medical care involves many variables in the patient's condition and type of care being prescribed, tort law has established specific markers for prudence and caution in health care delivery. These are established according to science, recent health care delivery data, and the collective and collaborative opinions of peer professionals.


The definition of the term comes with several important considerations:

Physicians are required to inform patients of any risks associated with care they are about to (or have the option of) receiving. If the risk is not discussed and there is an adverse outcome, there may be cause for a medical malpractice lawsuit.

The health care provider should acknowledge when there is more than one potential course of care, including to do nothing. All options should meet the accepted standard of care.

Standard of care might differ by geography. However, in a major metropolitan area the community medical standards are generally the highest (compared to what is available in remote, rural or third-world environments).

-Standard- is not the same thing as -average.- The latter suggests some care acceptably falls above and some falls below a certain level of treatment. Healthcare is somewhat democratic - there is a minimum level at which all patients can reasonably expect to be treated, including in publicly funded facilities.


A breach of standards, coupled with linking that breach to a medical error that caused injury to the patient, are the key components of a medical malpractice lawsuit. If you believe that each of these occurred in your own healthcare, contact a qualified medical malpractice attorney to discuss your case.


R. Klettke is a freelance writer. He writes about personal injury and medical malpractice law and other matters of jurisprudence.


Important Advisory: This article is not intended to provide legal advice upon which you or anyone else should rely in making any decisions regarding the instituting or prosecuting of a legal claim. Laws and rules relating to the bringing of a claim vary widely from state to state. You should always contact a personal injury attorney to obtain information as to the rules and the laws pertaining to any claim you might have.

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