n. failure by a health-care professional to exercise a reasonable standard of care, as defined in the UK by the *Bolam and Bolitho tests, which ask whether the care provided fell short of that of a reasonable body of professional opinion and whether actions or omissions withstand logical analysis (the determination of which falls to the court). In order to establish negligence a claimant must show that a doctor had a *duty of care, that he or she breached this duty by falling below the expected standard of care, and that foreseeable harm was caused as a result of the professional’s conduct. The standard of proof in negligence actions is that of the civil law (i.e. on the balance of probabilities). Payment of *compensation to the claimant upon proving negligence is required by the UK civil law. Rarely, doctors may be charged with the criminal offence of manslaughter by gross negligence, which must be proved according to the standards of the criminal law (beyond reasonable doubt). If convicted, the sentence for gross negligence cases is likely to be custodial.
Under the strict legal de?nition, negligence must involve proving a clearly established duty of care which has been breached in a way that has resulted in injury or harm to the recipient of care. There does not need to be any malicious intention. Whether or not a particular injury can be attributed to medical negligence, or must simply be accepted as a reasonable risk of the particular treatment, depends upon an assessment of whether the doctor has fallen below the standard expected of practitioners in the particular specialty. A defence to such a claim is that a respected body of practitioners would have acted in the same way (even though the majority might not) and in doing so would have acted logically.... medical negligence
Health Encyclopedia