Page 20 - Part 1 Collaborating with Advanced Practice Providers - An Overview of State Rules

SVMIC Collaborating with Advanced Practice Providers

agreement. Perhaps the most obvious implication is that the
negligence of a supervisee can impose the burden of litigation

upon the supervising physician and could result in the physician

having to report a judgment to the National Practitioner Data Bank.

Before examining some cases, let us review the legal theories and

general definitions that will be used in this course.

Malpractice – professional negligence – an abrogation of a duty

owed by a healthcare provider to the patient; it is the failure to

exercise the degree of care used by reasonably careful

practitioners of like qualifications in the same or similar

circumstances. For a plaintiff to collect damages in a court of law,
the plaintiff’s attorney must prove four elements: (1) a duty of care

was owed by the practitioner; (2) the practitioner violated the

applicable standard of care; (3) the person suffered a

compensable injury; and (4) the injury was caused in fact by the

substandard conduct. The burden of proving these elements is on
the plaintiff in a malpractice lawsuit. Proving damages is an

essential element in any medical malpractice or negligence action.

Damages generally involve one or more of the following types of

expenses or losses: present and future medical expenses, pain and

suffering, present and future lost wages or business profits, and

other economic losses.

Standard of Care – In a malpractice action, the plaintiff has the

burden of proving by evidence the following: (1) The recognized

standard of acceptable professional practice in the profession and

the specialty thereof, if any, that the defendant practices in the

community in which the defendant practices or in a similar

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