Page 22 - Anatomy of a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

SVMIC Anatomy of a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

 Duty

 Standard of care

 Breach of the standard of care (negligence)

 Damages proximately caused by the breach

Let’s examine each of these elements in detail. As you will see,

they are not as straightforward as they may first appear.

Duty

Physicians have a duty to exercise reasonable medical care

and judgment in the care and treatment of a patient. The duty
attaches from the moment the physician-patient relationship is

established. Generally, the physician-patient relationship exists
when a “patient knowingly seeks the assistance of a physician

and the physician knowingly accepts him or her as a patient”.

Thus, a contractual relationship is established.

In most cases, there is no question when the relationship is

established; but, on occasion, it is a matter of dispute. For

example, is the physician-patient relationship established if a
person merely schedules an appointment, but never shows?

What if the patient presents and completes the initial new

patient paperwork only to be told the physician does not
accept the person’s insurance and that person leaves? Your

initial response to both questions is probably “no”. Now,
assume the person dies the following day. Would it make a

difference if the physician in these scenarios was a specialist
such as a cardiologist, and if the person was referred by a

general practitioner because of an irregular EKG?

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