Medical Malpractice and the Adoption of Medical Technology

Medical malpractice lawsuits rarely focus on the first three elements above (Greenburg 2009). The final element standard of care is the center point of most litigation. The disagreement surrounding standard of care in civil proceedings relates to the fact that it exists as a concept rather than strict definition. The defending physician must demonstrate that he or she acted reasonably given the clinical context and that other physicians would have acted similarly. This implies that physicians are incentivized to maintain practice patterns that are similar to those of their peers.