Differences Between Medical Negligence and Malpractice

If you or a loved one was injured due to a medical professional’s error, you may hear the terms “medical negligence” and “medical malpractice” used interchangeably. However, these terms have important distinctions under Georgia law that you should understand before pursuing a claim. The main difference between the two pertains to the medical professional’s state of mind when the incident occurred.

Working with a medical malpractice attorney in Macon, GA, can help you understand whether you may have a case for medical negligence vs. malpractice.

What Is Medical Negligence?

In Georgia, medical negligence occurs when a medical provider fails to take the expected or appropriate action under the standard of care, leading to unintentional patient harm. Negligence can also include careless acts. Examples of medical negligence may include:

• Failing to administer a medication at the correct time
• Overlooking symptoms that require medical treatment
• Misreading a patient’s chart and providing treatment based on the misunderstanding of their medical condition
• Neglecting to sterilize medical equipment
• Mislabeling samples in a lab
• Neglecting to provide a patient with important post-care instructions

When these errors lead to harm to the patient, they can result in medical negligence claims.

What Is Medical Malpractice?

Medical malpractice is a form of negligence that occurs when a medical professional makes an intentional or knowing departure from the standard of care. They may not have intended to cause the patient harm, but they knowingly committed an action that ultimately led to the patient’s injury or other negative consequences.

Medical malpractice involves a reckless disregard for a patient’s well-being and is often more serious than medical negligence. Malpractice has an element of professional misconduct or gross incompetence, extending beyond a simple mistake.

Examples of medical malpractice may include:

• Deliberately overlooking patient complaints
• Delaying medical treatment for no sound reason
• Deliberately ignoring test results
• Misreading an X-ray or test results due to carelessness
• Performing surgery on the wrong body part
• Practicing medicine under the influence of drugs or alcohol
• Failing to receive informed consent from a patient prior to a medical procedure

In these cases, the medical provider knowingly deviates from their professional medical standards or acts recklessly, leading to the patient’s harm.

Differences Between Medical Negligence vs. Malpractice

While you can use the terms “medical negligence” and “malpractice” interchangeably when talking about your experience, these terms are distinct under Georgia law. These are the main differences between medical negligence vs. malpractice:

• Intent: Medical malpractice generally involves a level of intent or knowingly deviating from the standard of care. Medical negligence is often unintentional, arising from miscommunication, oversight, or simple mistakes.
• Damages: Medical negligence and malpractice cases can both give rise to economic and non-economic damages due to the impact the error had on the patient’s life. Medical malpractice more commonly involves punitive damages as well, which seek to punish the medical provider for gross misconduct.
• Standard of care: Medical malpractice and negligence cases both involve breaching the standard of care that healthcare providers practice under. With medical malpractice, this breach is generally more egregious.
• Proof of harm: Both types of medical errors must lead to provable, actual harm under Georgia law. But for medical malpractice cases, proving the misconduct often involves seeking expert testimony to show that the medical professional acted outside of how other providers in their shoes would have reasonably acted.
• Legal implications: Medical malpractice cases often have more severe legal implications than medical negligence incidents. They may lead to larger damages and compensation awards. In some cases, medical malpractice can even result in criminal charges, especially when it involves severe recklessness or overt criminal acts like fraud or assault.

Understanding Whether an Incident Was Medical Negligence or Malpractice

Even though medical negligence and malpractice are distinct matters, they involve a gray area that can sometimes be challenging to untangle. You may not initially know whether the incident that led to your injuries would be considered negligence or malpractice.

A medical malpractice attorney can assess the circumstances of your injury and help you understand which legal category it may fall into. Examining the following factors can assist this determination:

• Nature of the mistake: Was the issue a human error, such as missing a dose of medication, or a bigger mistake, such as operating on the wrong organ? Medical negligence often leads to simpler mistakes, though they can still have long-lasting consequences.
• Consequences of the error: The severity of the injury can also affect whether the incident would be considered negligence or malpractice. Negligence may be more likely to involve only minor injuries because the nature of the mistake is less severe.
• Reason for the error: Did the medical provider cite a reason for the error, such as miscommunication between the medical team? Could they have reasonably overlooked the information that led to the mistake, or would those details have been difficult to miss? Were they under a sizable workload when the error occurred, or would they reasonably have had enough time to read the medical file and gain all information before acting?
• Similar cases: A medical malpractice attorney can help you look for other legal cases involving similar errors to your case. Assessing the damages in these cases can provide valuable evidence in your case and help you understand whether it might be considered malpractice or negligence.

Even if it is not initially clear whether your case could be considered negligence or malpractice, you may still be able to initiate a claim against the medical provider and seek damages.

Seek Assistance From an Experienced Malpractice Lawyer in Macon

You may know that your medical provider made a mistake, but you aren’t sure of the difference between medical negligence vs. malpractice and which term would describe your case. An experienced attorney can help you understand your rights and options.

Attorney Tracey Dellacona started her career as a nurse before transitioning to personal injury and medical malpractice law. She has represented countless medical malpractice cases throughout her 30+-year legal career.

Request a consultation with Dellacona Law Firm today by calling 478-477-9000.