Medical negligence risk factors and classifications explained
The classification of medical errors reflects their true causes. On the one hand, they are objective and do not depend on medical capabilities, but on the other hand, there are subjective mistakes negligence, carelessness, including the reckless actions of the doctor.
Such errors as random errors are possible in tough conditions of operation, abnormalities in blood vessels and organs, in insufficient experience of the surgeon in charge of operations due to objectively prevailing circumstances. These errors are considered to be the ones in good faith and don’t imply criminal prosecution. Imperfection of medical knowledge and surgical approaches leads to an accident in medical practice, for example, in cases where a minor intervention ends with fatal bleeding. However, in these situations it is necessary to find out whether the doctor provides the possible complications of such an operation, or they arise as a result of the above circumstances (unusual anatomical structure, congenital organ malformation, etc.). Only a commission of experts, taking into account all the circumstances may give an opinion on the occurrence of death due to an accident or due to careless actions of a physician.
The legal responsibilities of a health care worker in case of professional offense is a broad concept. The crime can be committed either intentionally or through negligence. A crime is considered to be negligent if a medical worker that committed it foresaw the risk of socially dangerous consequences that the actions (or inactions) could cause, but for some reason didn’t facilitate their prevention either; in some cases a person just didn’t foresee the consequences, although they should have and could have been foreseen. In this situation, two different forms of negligence are considered: the one designated as a criminal arrogance, the other one as a criminal negligence. The cases of criminal negligence are not really rare, since only around 38% of claimants get compensation in the courts, meaning that the amount of criminal cases has a potential of climbing up to 15-17%, according to solicitors.guru, an expert online platform in medical negligence, gathering hundreds of medical negligence solicitors under one roof.
Overconfidence is defined as the prediction of the probability of occurrence of dangerous consequences produced by action or inaction, coupled with their frivolous expectation of prevention the damaging effects.
In medical practice there are such concepts as ‘medical risk’ and ‘risk in medicine’. The concept of ‘risk’ is clearly defined by the existing laws. The criminal law distinguishes between justified, legitimate risk and unlawful, unnecessary risk. The risk is legitimate and necessary when a potentially unsafe action is taken to achieve a reasonable purpose. One of the conditions to achieve a useful purpose can be a situation where the onset of harmful consequences must be a possibility, not the inevitable result of risky actions. Thus, the risks of undesired complications during surgery are possible, but not inevitable.
