When you go to your health care provider and experience some sort of injury, you are likely to wonder if it was negligence or malpractice to know what to sue for. Malpractice and negligence are terms that are used interchangeably and substitute for one another. Let’s dive into the differences between negligence and malpractice. 

  • Negligence 

Negligence when treating a patient has to do with providing substandard services that could cause your patient some sort of harm. Examples of negligence are errors during surgery or not discerning or understanding your patient’s symptoms. By the way, see here for medical malpractice lawsuits in Florida.

  • Malpractice 

Malpractice is a subgroup under negligence. Malpractice, however, affirms that a healthcare provider failed to provide good healthcare services with the knowledge that their decision can cause the patient harm. Examples of malpractice include performing surgery on the wrong body part or without the consent of the patient, patient suicide among others. Malpractice is an event that must never happen in a hospital under any circumstance. 

  • Intent 

One of the key differences between negligence and malpractice is intent. This is in the sense that when medical negligence occurs, the doctor made a mistake that caused the patient certain damages. Malpractice on the other hand is a doctor intentionally not following the proper standard knowing fully well it can cause harm to the patient. 

Note: It is important to note that when it comes to malpractice, it is not to say there was any sort of hostility towards the patient. It is just that the doctor knew he could have taken an alternative measure that would not have caused harm. 

  • Uses

Negligence may be seen as one necessary element to help you prove your case while malpractice may be referred to as the entire case. Therefore, you must be able to prove that negligence occurred for you to have a solid malpractice lawsuit. 

  •  Elements of Negligence 

There are four criteria to meet for a negligence case. They include the duty of care, a clear breach of duty of care, cause of injury, and some form of damages. Therefore, medical professionals are expected to know their duty, they must fail in providing that duty, failure to offer proper services caused injuries and the patient must have suffered some damages before a negligence claim can be filed. 

  • Elements of Malpractice 

There are also four criteria necessary to file a malpractice claim. First, proof of the existence of a relationship between you and your doctor is required. Followed by proof that your doctor failed in his duties. Then the proof of his negligence and lastly that his negligence caused you damages like physical pain, additional medical bills, or mental pain. 

The trauma that follows after such a horrifying experience can be very excruciating. Therefore, you must hire an attorney that would do everything in their power to assist you and ensure that you get the best offer out of your lawsuit. This will make you focus more on healing while your attorney takes care of the claim for you.