FM10.18 | Medical Negligence — Summary & Reflection

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Medical negligence requires four elements: duty of care, breach of the standard of care (Bolam + Bolitho), causation, and damage. It must be distinguished from misadventure (adverse event despite standard care) and maloccurrence (bad outcome without negligence). Types of negligence include civil (Consumer Protection Act 2019, balance of probabilities), criminal (IPC 304A, gross negligence threshold per Jacob Mathew 2005), contributory (patient's own conduct contributed), corporate (institutional systemic failure), and vicarious (employer liable for employee's negligent acts in course of employment). Res Ipsa Loquitur allows courts to infer negligence when: (1) act was under defendant's control, (2) would not have occurred without negligence, (3) no patient contributory negligence. Key defences include Bolam/Bolitho standard of care evidence, absence of causation, contributory negligence, and limitation. Prevention rests on thorough documentation, valid informed consent, SOPs, and professional indemnity insurance.

REFLECT

Consider a clinical scenario in your future practice where a complication arises during a procedure you performed correctly. How would you document the event in real time? What would you say to the patient and family? What records, consents, and contemporaneous notes would you want to have in place before the procedure? Reflect on how the legal framework of negligence should shape your everyday clinical documentation habits — not as a burden, but as a professional standard that protects both your patient and yourself.