The legal definition
Under US tort law, medical malpractice is a sub-category of professional negligence. A healthcare provider — physician, nurse, dentist, hospital, pharmacist, or institution — owes a duty to patients to provide care consistent with what a reasonably competent provider in the same field would deliver under similar circumstances. This is called the standard of care.
When a provider departs from that standard and the departure causes a real injury, the patient may have a malpractice claim.
The four legal elements
- 1. Duty of care. A provider-patient relationship existed.
- 2. Breach. The provider departed from the accepted standard of care.
- 3. Causation. The breach directly caused the injury — not just preceded it.
- 4. Damages. Real, measurable harm followed: medical costs, lost income, pain and suffering, disability, or death.
What is NOT malpractice
- • A bad outcome from a properly performed procedure
- • A known complication that was disclosed and unavoidable
- • A diagnosis that turned out to be wrong despite reasonable workup
- • Personality conflicts or rude bedside manner
Why expert testimony is required
Because lay jurors cannot evaluate clinical judgment unaided, virtually every state requires the injured patient to present qualified medical expert testimony — often before suit is even filed — to establish what the standard of care was and how the defendant breached it.
Next: see the types of medical malpractice claims or read how a malpractice lawsuit works.