One of the key elements of medical negligence is causation, which can be the most difficult to prove. Causation refers to the link between the healthcare provider’s breach of duty of care and the harm suffered by the patient. To successfully claim medical negligence, it must be established that the harm suffered by the patient was a direct result of the healthcare provider’s breach of duty of care and not due to other factors.
Proving causation can be difficult because it often requires detailed medical knowledge and expert testimony and because illnesses, injuries, or conditions can have multiple causes. In some cases, the harm suffered by the patient would have occurred regardless of the healthcare provider’s actions.
It can also be challenging to differentiate between harm caused by negligence and harm caused by the natural progression of the patient’s condition.
For this reason, proving causation is often considered the most difficult element of medical negligence cases and is where many cases fall short in negligence claims.
The world was stunned by the passing of Michael Jackson in 2009, but it took another two years before his primary physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Jackson had been receiving a potent anesthetic called propofol from Murray to aid in his sleep, and it was claimed that Murray did this unattended in Jackson’s own house.
The incident raised awareness of the dangers of dispensing potent medications outside a hospital or other healthcare institution. It raised issues regarding the risk of medical malpractice, specifically when doctors labor away from their usual environment and without appropriate supervision.
The jurors eventually determined that Dr. Murray had contributed to Jackson’s death, despite his claims that he had been acting on Jackson’s instructions and that the pop star was a drug addict who had been self-medicating for years.
With many medical professionals calling for tighter regulations and guidelines surrounding its use, the case also increased scrutiny of propofol and other potent anesthetics.
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