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Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice is a tort
action seeking damages from a medical professional for injuries suffered due to
incompetent medical practice. Medical malpractice actions are typically
variants of negligence lawsuits.
To sustain an action for
medical malpractice, the victim must prove that the medical professional did
not live up to the reasonable standard of competence expected in the industry
and that damages were suffered as a result of that incompetence.
Medical malpractice actions
can be brought against doctors, hospitals and other medical professionals for
acting incompetently or for failing to act in a manner that would reasonably be
expected of the professional.
While the “old” rules used to
account for the doctor’s community in determining the level of competence
expected, the modern rule is to hold or medical professionals to the standard
of reasonable competence expected of medical professionals nationwide.