Medicine and the Law

Question 1

What is a doctor’s “duty”?

Answer 1

to be compliant with the standard of care

Question 2

How is the standard of care broken?

Answer 2

• doing something you should not do (commission)

- failing to do something you should do (omission)

Question 3

The plaintiff has the burden of proving 4 things:

Answer 3

• duty
• breach of duty
• causation
• damages

Question 4

What is “duty”?

Answer 4

what a reasonably careful physician would do under the same or similar circumstances

Question 5

What is “breach of duty”?

Answer 5

deviation from the standard of care (commission or omission)

Question 6

What is “causation”?

Answer 6

proof within a reasonable degree of medical certainty

Question 7

What are “damages”?

Answer 7

• economic (lost wages, medical costs, out-of-pocket expenses)
• non-economic (pain/suffering, disability, loss of normal life, grief/sorrow)

Question 8

What is the key to avoiding lawsuits?

Answer 8

communication (w/ the entire care team, patient and family, safety dept.)

Question 9

Should documentation be subjective or objective?

Answer 9

Objective! Documentation should not be speculate about what happened or cast blame on other care providers.

Question 10

What are important things for residents and students to know?

Answer 10

• departmental policies and protocols
• chain of command
• national guidelines for care
• what they can/cannot do or discuss