Malpractice

Duty

The duty of care is a legal obligation that requires that an individual adhere to a reasonable standard of care when performing acts that could cause harm to another. Although the law does not necessarily define the duty of care, its meaning may develop through common law or local customs. For example, physicians generally are said to have a duty of care by virtue of the physician-patient relationship. This relationship may be established when a patient first makes an appointment to receive care and treatment, or it may be established when a physician is consulted to render emergency care and treatment. Hospital or other healthcare facility personnel are said to have a duty of care because they are either employees or contractors for an agent that agrees to deliver services to a patient. Pharmacists also have a duty of care when they can reasonably foresee that their actions or inactions could reasonably cause harm to clients. Although all healthcare employees generally are expected to honor the duty of care for patients under their care, there have been cases where employees have successfully argued that they did not have a duty of care because provision of care would have violated their own ethical principles.

In healthcare, the duty a professional owes to an individual under his or her care is based on [Page 700]standards of care. Standards of care address the reasonableness of care and hold a professional accountable to deliver care as would a reasonable person with similar training and skills in similar circumstances. This is known as the reasonable-person standard.

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