Attorney Ben Schwartz explains to a viewer the difference between medical malpractice and medical negligence in this video.

Hi, I’m Attorney Ben Schwartz,

Today we are going to do a quick video with a question from Maria in Dover, Delaware. Maria wrote in she said what is the difference between medical malpractice and medical negligence and what are some examples of both? Maria, the answer is that there is, there’s really no difference between medical malpractice and medical negligence. You might have noticed that in the law people like to give things multiple names. So, for example, you might call me a lawyer, but you might call me an attorney. What is the difference? Nothing really, it’s just that in the law everything has two or three names. So, malpractice, and negligence, are just different names for the same thing.

Basically, what you need to know about malpractice or about medical negligence is whether it is a medical treatment provider, a doctor, a nurse, or some other, you know a surgeon. And it is a deviation from the standard of care. Now by that, I mean that there is a standard of care for every medical treatment provider in every case. The standard of care is basically the standard that the doctor has to adhere to, or the nurse has to adhere to in rendering care and if they deviate, if they fall short of that standard now you have got negligence or you’ve got malpractice, same difference.

Some examples of medical negligence or medical malpractice are if the doctor gives you medication that harms you instead of making you better, that could be medical negligence. For example, if you are already on one type of medication and some simple research would reveal that the first medication is contraindicated for the second and the doctor gives you the second anyways and you are injured because the two medications can’t mix, that might be medical negligence. Or if you have a situation where you have surgery and the doctor leaves a surgical implement a site, that is a good example of medical negligence or medical malpractice.

So, Maria, I hope that answers your question, but they are both the same thing. If you have a particular case that you think might be medical malpractice or medical negligence case, send me an email. I’d be more than happy to give you my thoughts and review the case for you if it is a Delaware or Maryland case. In my firm, we have attorneys to handle medical malpractice cases in Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, as well as outside of those areas. We would not handle the case, but we could refer you to someone who might be able to talk to you about the case. Anyways, I’m attorney Ben Schwartz, my email address is ben.schwartz@schwartzandschwartz.com.

Thanks for watching!