Occupational therapists occasionally are sued for professional malpractice; thus, they need to be aware of the law of malpractice, those areas of practice that present the greatest legal challenges, and strategies to reduce client injury and liability risks. This article provides an overview of the law of professional malpractice, explains the impact of various employment relationships on liabi...

This is the third in a series of 5 articles providing a contemporary overview and introduction to unconventional dentistry (UD) and its correlation to unconventional medicine (UM). UD presents issues of dental quackery, fraud and malpractice, and it also engenders professional concerns about public protection and professional risks. Case reports illustrate numerous issues. The reader is encoura...

In present practice there is an increased demand from patients for prosthetic implant restoration solutions. At the same time one can notice a possible vulnerability regarding allegations of malpractice, as evidenced by the growing number of complaints of malpractice also maintained by negative reports, frequently incomplete or incorrectly documented from the press. This should require practiti...

In these times of physician strikes and daily newspaper articles concerning the "malpractice crisis", it is appropriate to review one of the most important aspects of any malpractice suit-the standard of care against which the conduct of the defendant-medical practitioner will be judged. A malpractice suit against any professional, including a CRNA, is basically the same as any type of personal...

PROFESSIONAL liability insurance has become society's chief agency for the distribution of the cost of malpractice by the medical profession. It is quite natural that the medical practitioner, conscious of the possibility of a ruinous malpractice judgment, should seek the protection of insurance. Several factors indicate that this segment of the insurance industry will grow rapidly in the futur...

Early adoption of a new medical device by a physician carries with it some degree of malpractice liability risk. The legal standard for malpractice varies from place to place, but generally requires an evaluation of the physician's conduct either against that of a hypothetical "reasonable physician," or else against professional custom. Where the use of a new device involves a significant depar...

Hacking is an anathema to the field of computer science. Similar to illegal human medical experiments in the field of medicine, hackers and hacking incurs the wrath of honest, hard-working, ethical, and professional computer scientists. Hacking should be considered as a metaphorical equivalent to malpractice in medicine. Hacking is almost as difficult to detect as medical malpractice, and ethic...

T he last two articles published in the Medicolegal Sidebar addressed the complex interplay between the law and social values [1, 2]. Sometimes, court decisions may appear to be arbitrary and unfair to the medical profession, but a deeper examination of judicial rulings can show the practical tensions that courts sometimes face in adjudicating medical malpractice claims. We previously addressed...

BACKGROUND Our objective was to identify the prevalence of recent malpractice litigation against American surgeons and evaluate associations with personal well-being. Although malpractice lawsuits are often filed against American surgeons, the personal consequences with respect to burnout, depression, and career satisfaction are poorly understood. STUDY DESIGN Members of the American College ...