We present a new model of negligence and causation and examine the influence of the causation test on the level of care under negligence. In this model, the injurer’s decision to take care reduces the likelihood of an accident only in the event that some nondeterministic intervention occurs. The effects of the causation test depend on the information available to the court, and the manner in wh...

It is a principle recognized by our as well as by other legal systems that ignorance of the law is no excuse for violating it. The rule is also expressed in the form of a legal presumption that everyone knows the law. It is the duty of every man to know that part of it which concerns him. A doctor, in particular, is conclusively presumed to know the law, and is dealt with as if he did know it, ...

Background: As part of an interdisciplinary study of medical injury and malpractice litigation, we estimated the incidence of adverse events, defined as injuries caused by medical management, and of the subgroup of such injuries that resulted from negligent or substandard care. Methods: We reviewed 30 121 randomly selected records from 51 randomly selected acute care, nonpsychiatric hospitals i...

time, and though every intelligent mian knowvs that in all medical treatment there is an element of risk the plaintiff often thinks it vorth wvhile trying to convince the court that because there has been a mishap there must necessarily have been negligence. To rebut any such presumption is difficult, and often impossible. But though one has full sympathy wvith a patient wvho has met with furth...

I ought perhaps to add one further observation about the litigation of such claims. In a recent case the claim was brought against the surgeon and the sister who had been responsible for the counting of the swabs. I suppose that this was done on the basis that the combined duties of the two of them together covered the whole field of activity, within which any negligence connected with the non-...

A number of case histories have reported an association between the presence of misidentification syndromes and violent behavior. If patients with such delusions are truly more likely to perpetrate violent acts, treating mental health professionals could potentially be considered liable for not warning or protecting potential victims. However, the purported association between violence and misi...

IN medical malpractice litigation, negligence is the predominant theory of liability. The basic elements of a malpractice claim are duty, negligence, causation, and damage. Duty refers to the practitioners responsibility to treat a patient according to the standard of care. Negligence is defined by law as a deviation from the accepted standard of care and, therefore, a breach of duty. Causation...

BACKGROUND AND METHODS By matching the medical records of a random sample of 31,429 patients hospitalized in New York State in 1984 with statewide data on medical-malpractice claims, we identified patients who had filed claims against physicians and hospitals. These results were then compared with our findings, based on a review of the same medical records, regarding the incidence of injuries t...