Malpractice is an unlawful act by a physician, lawyer, or other professional that injures a patient or client. The patient or client may file a civil lawsuit to recuperate damages (money) to reimburse for the damage. The professions in which malpractice can occur require specialized training and study, and professionals in these fields must exercise a high degree of judgment in performing tasks generally beyond the skill of laypeople. In addition to law and medicine, these professions consist of dentistry, accounting, engineering, and architecture. Medical or legal malpractice lawsuits are far more common than those involving other professions. Malpractice is a special type of tort. A tort is a civil wrong that permits an injured party to sue for compensation for damages caused by the harmful conduct of another person. One common type of tort arises when a driver fails to exercise due care (ordinary care) while operating an automobile and causes an accident that results in injury to others. Malpractice and other torts have these three features in common: they involve a person who has a duty of care toward others, a failure to exercise due care, and an injury or other monetary damages caused by that failure. (Baicker, Katherine Chandra, Amitabh (2005)
The marketplace for medical malpractice legal responsibility insurance is humanizing as rate increases level off, claim frequency drops, states pass tort reform measures and health care providers commit to loss-control programs. Medical observers have long argued those physicians' concerns about malpractice lead to defensive medicine, which adversely affects both the availability and cost of health services. According to the American Medical Association (AMA), physicians are concerned that they face unlimited personal legal liability for medical accidents. They complain that liability fears make them practice medicine inappropriately................
