Clinical Negligence Flashcards
What is clinical negligence?
Healthcare professional provides care below expected level, which causes harm to the patient.
What area of law does clinical negligence fall under?
Civil law
-> in more serious cases, criminal law
What is the balance of probabilities?
Is it more likely to happen than not to happen?
What are the 3 elements needed to prove clinical negligence?
- Owed a duty of care
- Breached the duty of care; and
- The breach led to harm or injury
What are the 4 tests to establish a duty of care?
- Was harm forseeable?
- Was there a close relationship?
- Is it just and reasonable to impose duty?
- What is the scope of the duty?
What is the Bolam test?
A professional is not negligent if their actions are supported by other healthcare professionals.
When does the Bolam test apply?
Clinical decisions:
- Diagnosis of condition
- What treatments are appropriate
- How treatments should be provided
What does the Montgomery case say?
Patient must be informed of all information including material risk.
What does the Gollardo case say?
Informing the patient about the outcome of a procedure
How do courts decide if the care was below standard?
- Current knowledge at the time
- Expert opinion must make logical sense
True or False: Regardless of what task is performed, if there is a breach, it doesn’t matter if they are highly qualified or junior.
False. If it is a simple task then it is irrelevant. If the task is complex, it depends on the specialty or profession involved.
True or False: Courts are more understanding in emergencies.
True
If a healthcare professional doesn’t follow an SOP, would this be considered negligent?
Yes if they are unable to provide good reasons.
When may not following NICE guidelines be a breach in duty of care?
When it is significant and not justified.
What is the ‘but for’ test?
Would the harm have happened even if there was a breach?
What must be proven in a clinical negligence case involving missed diagnosis or treatment (according to the test of causation)?
- The disease would have been diagnosed
- It would have been possible to treat the patient so that their would have improved.
