The Legal Basis of Medical Negligence

Abstract

In virtually all systems of law, there is a presumption that every inhabitant must take reasonable care not to injure his neighbour. If he fails to do this, he may fall foul of the State by committing an offence under the criminal law — or be liable to the injured neighbour in a civil action. In countries with an Anglo-Saxon system of law, such as the UK, North America and most of the Commonwealth, such a civil action will lie within the law of “tort”. A “tort” may be simplistically defined as a “civil wrong”, a dispute between two parties, one of whom claims that the other has caused him damage.