Today’s consumers consider health care as an exact science with guaranteed results. When the results fall short, a medical malpractice suit may follow. This brings about an important point: Is medicine a science or an art?
Medical Malpractice Suits on the Rise
Doctors and patients cling to the notion of truth and knowledge in the medical profession, striving for clear-cut outcomes like the cure of disease. However, one might more realistically describe the diagnosis and treatment of a patient as a delicate dance between doctor and patient, fraught with potential for missteps. A tentative offering of symptoms from a meek patient can cause a doctor to discount the severity of those symptoms. Conversely, a patient who feels his good health makes him immune to danger may ignore a doctor’s recommendation for medicine or rest. Either of these situations can lead to a lawsuit.
The first recorded malpractice case was in England in 1374 involving a surgeon who mistreated a wound. Although the medical profession has come a long way since the fourteenth century, there are still many uncertainties inherent in the healing profession, and these uncertainties can lead to medical malpractice lawsuits.
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