Definition
· Refers to the commission or omission of an act, pursuant to a duty, that a reasonably person in the same or similar circumstance would or would not do, and acting or the non-acting of which is the proximate cause of injury to another person or his property
Elements of Professional Negligence
· Existence of a duty on the part of the person charged to use due care under circumstances
· Failure to meet the standard of due care
· The foreseeability of harm resulting from failure to meet standard
· The fact that the breach of this standard resulted in an injury to the plaintiff
Specific Examples of Negligence
1. Failure to report observations to attending physicians.
2. Failure to exercise the degree of diligence which the circumstances of the particular case demands.
3. Mistaken identity.
4. Wrong medicine, wrong concentration, wrong route, and wrong dose.
5. Defects in equipments that may result in injuring the patients.
6. Errors due to family assistance.
7. Administration of medicine without a doctor prescription.
The Doctrine of Res Ipsa Loquitor
1. “The thing speaks for itself.”
2. It means that the nature of the wrongful act or injury is suggestive of negligence
3. Three conditions are required to establish a defendant’s negligence without proving specific conduct.
o That the injury was of such nature that it would not normally occur unless there was a negligent act on the part of someone.
o That the injury was caused by an agency within the control of the defendant
o That the plaintiff himself did not engage in any manner that would tend to bring about the injury.
Malpractice
· “you do things beyond your scope of practice”
· Also denotes stepping beyond one’s authority with serious consequences.
Doctrine of Force Majeure
· It means an irresistible force, one that is unforeseen or inevitable.
· “you cannot stop it from happening”
· circumstances such as floods, fire, earthquakes and accidents fall under this doctrine
Doctrine of Respondeat Superior
· “let the master answer for the acts of the subordinate”
· the liability is expanded to include the master as well as the employee and not a shift of liability from the subordinate to the master
· this doctrine applies only to those actions performed by the employee within the scope of his employment
Incompetence
