Medical negligence claims are the result of medical malpractice, which is professional negligence either by a direct or indirect act or an omission that is performed by a health care professional. In such cases, medical care had to deviate from the treatment for the ailment and injury or death must be a direct result of such treatment. Many things can show cause for medical negligence claims, such as trying experimental procedures. Every country has a different set of regulations for what constitutes the basis for medical negligence claims.

There are four elements that must be established in order for medical negligence claims to be brought before a court of law. First, there must be a legal duty in the undertaking of care for any patient, and this exists whenever a clinic or hospital provides care for the patient. Secondly, it must be proven that the duty was breached. In other words, it must be proven that the health care practitioner that saw the patient did not follow the standard of care that is set aside as a treatment plan for the particular ailment. This can be the result of an honest accident on the side of the practitioner.

The third element that must exist is an injury or death that is due to only the medical negligence of the health care practitioner. In many medical negligence claims, this can be difficult to prove as many doctors and nurses will not testify against a colleague.

The fourth, and final, element in all medical negligence claims is the damage. Damages can be in many forms, but are generally limited to pecuniary, otherwise known as monetary or emotional damage. It should be noted that damages could occur without finding fault on the part of the health care worker. An example of this would be somebody dying from a fatal disease.

Most medical negligence claims are the result of a misdiagnosis; in fact one-third of all medical negligence claims stem from this. The reasons have been largely speculated upon. The general consensus is that there is a shortage of doctors for the number of patients and that doctor are forced to work too hard, too many hours, and to see too many patients resulting in not taking enough time with each patient in order to produce adequate care.

However, most medical negligence claims that are settled involve medical error rather than misdiagnosis. A simple example would be giving the wrong medication for the ailment, or dosing too heavily or too lightly for the medication to work as it should.

If you feel that you are a victim and need to file one or more medical negligence claims in order to set things to rights, you will need to find an attorney that specialises in medical negligence claims. You will need to have every bit of documentation that you can get hold of, including a full copy of your medical file. When you talk to your lawyer, make sure you tell him everything. It may be a good idea to have a few notes written.