Minimum Standard of Practice

It is the required level of prudence or caution expected to be

performed by a medical provider in conducting medical
procedures.
If a medical providers actions do not meet this standard of
care, then his/her acts fail to meet the duty of care, and such
failure to meet the standard is medical negligence, and any
damages resulting therefrom may be claimed in a lawsuit by
the injured party. The plaintiff must establish the appropriate
standard of care and demonstrate that the standard of care
has been breached.

Branches of Medical Profession
Main branches of Medicine
- Basic science of medicine (such as
physician)

Medical Specialties
Interdisciplinary fields
Nurse
Emergency medical technicians
Paramedics
Laboratory scientist
Pharmacist
Podiatrist Physiotherapist
Radiographers
Dietician
Bioengineer
Dentist
Medical malpractice cases
arise when a patient is harmed
by a doctor or nurse (or other
medical professional) who fails
to provide proper health care
treatment.

In order to meet the legal
definition of medical malpractice,
the doctor or medical provider
must have been negligent in some
way -- meaning the doctor was
not reasonably skillful or
competent, and that incompetence
harmed the patient.
Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis account
for a large percentage of medical malpractice
complaints. When a doctor misdiagnoses a
condition (or fails to diagnose a serious
disease for some time), the patient might miss
treatment opportunities that could have
prevented serious harm or even death.

Does Signing A Consent
Form Waive Rights To
File A Lawsuit For
Medical Malpractice?

Signing a consent form in and
of itself does not waive your
rights. It is possible that the
consent form does not contain
all of the relevant information
that it should or it may have
been signed without adequate
explanation.

Even if you signed a consent
form, you did not consent to
substandard medical care. A
doctor`s failure to meet the
acceptable standard of care is
not the same as consenting to
the normal risks of a
procedure.

Generally, a medical malpractice claim
can be brought against a licensed health
care provider. This can include a person,
corporation, facility or institution
licensed by the state to provide health
care or professional services, or an
officer, employee, or agent thereof acting
in the course and scope of his
employment.
A claim can be brought against
physicians, dentists, nurses, therapists,
technicians, hospitals, and pharmacists,
among others. A physician commits
medical malpractice if he fails to act in
the same manner a reasonably prudent
physician in the same field of medicine
would act under the same
circumstances.
Nurses, therapists and other
health care providers, and the
hospitals or clinics they work
for, can be held responsible for
their failure to meet accepted
standards of care in their
particular field.
Medical negligence claims
against physicians employed at
state medical facilities are not
considered to arise from their
employment, but from their
individual duties to their patients
so such actions are not subject to
governmental immunity.

Neither a local public entity nor a public
employee acting within the scope of his
employment is liable for injury arising from
diagnosing or failing to diagnose that a person
is afflicted with an illness or addiction;
administration, with due care, of the
treatment prescribed for an illness or
addiction; or failure to admit a person to a
medical facility operated or maintained by a
local public entity.
Failure to Take the Medical History
A good diagnostic procedure
demands complete history.
The clinical history must be in
relation to the signs and
symptoms of the illness
presented by the patients.
Failure to Examine or
Failure to make a Careful
and Adequate
Examination of Patient
After history-taking, a physician
must examine his patient. A
physician who fails to examine a
patient or fails to make a proper
examination in which a careful
one would have revealed the
existence of a specific disease
may be held liable.
Non-Referral of the Patient to a
Specialist
A physician may be held liable for
malpractice if he knew he should
have known that the condition of the
patient is beyond his ability,
knowledge and capacity to treat and
referral to another physician would
benefit the patient.
Failure to Consult Prior Physicians for
Previous Management
In several instances a patient
has been under the care of
other physician(s) who
administered certain drugs or
has performed certain surgical
procedure.
To avoid the risk in the
application of treatment
procedure it is highly
recommended to consult the
prior physician of the previous
treatment applied.
Non-Referral of Patient to a
Hospital with Equipments
and Trained Personnel
A physician must not only be
aware of his personal knowledge
and limitations but also of the
proper equipments on hand in
the management of a patient.
Good practice demands and
trained personnel are available.
Failure to Use the Appropriate
Diagnostic Test
The physicians failure to utilize
the diagnostic tests to
determine the cause of the
patients illness may be a basis
of a medical liability claim.
Failure to Diagnose Infections
If the failure is on account of
inability to make even a
cursory examination of the
patient, without any justifiable
reason, he may be held liable
for want of due care.
Treatments Resulting into Addiction
The indiscriminate administration of
addictive drugs by physicians is a violation of
Dangerous Drugs Act.
As long as the drug is used as a standard,
approved and accepted remedy for the
patients illness and as long as the proper
dosage is followed, it is unlikely that a
physician will be found liable.
Telephone Orders
The best interest of the of the
patient, physician and nurse is
served if the physicians order
is in writing.
Experimental Treatments
Awareness and consent of the
patient.
The physician to perform the
experimental treatment must be
capable to perform the innovative
technique.
RAMOS VS. CA

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES INC.
VS. AGANA