Michigan Medical Malpractice Lawyers | Medical Malpractice Defined

Daniel Buckfire

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Medical malpractice occurs when a patient has been injured because of a preventable error or negligent care when receiving medical treatment. Medical malpractice is caused by a doctor, nurse, or someone else in the medical or healthcare profession. This means medical malpractice does not occur when a patient is treated for an injury but the injury never heals. Healthcare providers cannot guarantee success and they are not liable just because a treatment does not work. Similarly, medical malpractice does not mean doctors are liable for all errors during a complicated medical procedure like surgery. Only errors that were preventable or care that was negligent gives the patient a medical malpractice claim.

Does this mean medical malpractice is rare? Not at all. In fact, according to one Harvard Medical Practice Study, more than half of injuries caused by medical management (i.e. the injury occurred while the patient was being treated), were the result of preventable errors and another quarter of these injuries were caused by negligent care. That means the patients had medical malpractice claims in over 75% of the time they suffered an injury from medical management.

Medical malpractice can occur at any stage of treatment. In the past, 80% of medical malpractice has occurred when the patient was in the hospital while 20% occurred in a doctor’s office or other non-hospital setting.