Medical Malpractice Terms and Definitions

Tort Liability The defendant must owe a legal duty to the victim, the defendant breached that duty, the breach was the cause of an injury to the victim, there must be an injury. In most cases, there must be a physical or financial injury to the victim, but sometimes emotional distress, embarrassment, or dignitary harms are adequate for recovery. Allodynia When pain is caused by something that does not normally cause pain (such as clothing touching the skin). Duty of Care Once a doctor or health care professional agrees to diagnose or treat a patient, he or she has assumed a duty of care toward that patient. Delirium A disturbance of the brain function that causes confusion and changes in alertness, attention, thinking and reasoning, memory, emotions, sleeping patterns and coordination. Causalgia Pain, usually burning, that is associated with autonomic changes -- change in color of the skin, change in temperature, change in sweating, swelling. Causalgia occurs after a nerve injury. Confidentiality The principle that prohibits physicians from disclosing confidential comments made to them by patients unless required to do so by law. The law may require physicians to violate patient confidentiality if the patient poses a serious threat to his or her own health and the well-being or that of others. Interrogatories A form of discovery in which one party submits a series of written questions to the other party, and to which the latter is bound to answer under oath. Arbitration A process for deciding a legal dispute out of court; a substitute for an ordinary trial. Subrogation A process by which a third party is put in the place of a creditor so that the rights and securities of the creditor pass to that third person. Res ipsa loquitur The use of res ipsa loquitur should be prohibited in medical malpractice cases because under this doctrine the mere fact that the injury occurs means that the defendant was negligent, although it is not all the time.

Please contact us if anyone you know has suffered from debilitating injuries due to medical malpractice in Dallas.

	Did You Know?
	Medical Misdiagnosis is a serious risk every time you go to the hospital. There are many ways that a medical misdiagnosis can present itself. Whether a doctor is at fault, or hospital staff, a misdiagnosis of a serious illness can have very extreme and harmful effects. The National Patient Safety Foundation cites that 42% of medical patients feel they have had experienced a medical error or missed diagnosis.