The main personal that are responsible for patient care includes physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. However in most cases it has been associated with the doctors. There are four elements that are considered in which a plaintiff is required to present in order to prove that medical negligence has been committed. The four elements consist of duty, breach of duty, damages and causations. It is the job of the plaintiff, the party with the complaint to explain the burden of proof. If for some reason all four of the elements are not met there is no way that negligence can be proven. The duty element is what is owed to the patient, and there should be broad terms used to define duty organizationally in policies and procedures. Breach of duty would be whats owed to patient is breached by responsible party. For example, a nurse fails to provide a safe environment by omitting to put the bed down. Damages occur as a result of the breach. The patient falls out of that bed and breaks an arm, incurring damages. If the patient falls but is not injured, no damages occur. This is considered poor patient care, but does not satisfy the element of damages. There must be a direct cause and effect to the injury and in a lot of cases can be hard to prove (Pozgar,
The main personal that are responsible for patient care includes physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals. However in most cases it has been associated with the doctors. There are four elements that are considered in which a plaintiff is required to present in order to prove that medical negligence has been committed. The four elements consist of duty, breach of duty, damages and causations. It is the job of the plaintiff, the party with the complaint to explain the burden of proof. If for some reason all four of the elements are not met there is no way that negligence can be proven. The duty element is what is owed to the patient, and there should be broad terms used to define duty organizationally in policies and procedures. Breach of duty would be whats owed to patient is breached by responsible party. For example, a nurse fails to provide a safe environment by omitting to put the bed down. Damages occur as a result of the breach. The patient falls out of that bed and breaks an arm, incurring damages. If the patient falls but is not injured, no damages occur. This is considered poor patient care, but does not satisfy the element of damages. There must be a direct cause and effect to the injury and in a lot of cases can be hard to prove (Pozgar,