Medical Malpractice Terms and Definitions

Arbitration A process for deciding a legal dispute out of court; a substitute for an ordinary trial. Obstetrics Prenatal care requires collecting, tracking and analyzing a complex series of clinical data collected over several prenatal visits. Informed Consent Is the process by which fully informed patients can participate in choices about Their healthcare. It originates from the legal and ethical right the patient has to direct what happens to her body and from the ethical duty of the physician to involve the patient in her health care. Delirium A disturbance of the brain function that causes confusion and changes in alertness, attention, thinking and reasoning, memory, emotions, sleeping patterns and coordination. Negligence Failure to exercise that degree of care that a reasonable person would exercise under the same circumstances. When that failure causes another person to suffer an injury or financial loss, that person may be entitled to just compensation through our civil justice system. 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. Medications Malpractice This category covers claims arising from inaccurate medication prescriptions, such as wrong medication or dosage level. Assumption of risk In the law of negligence, as a defense, a defendant's allegation that the injured plaintiff recognized the danger of the plaintiff's course of action but, nonetheless, willingly chose to risk such danger. Cerebral Palsy Cerebral palsy refers to a group of conditions that affect control of movement and posture. Because of damage to one or more parts of the brain that control movement, an affected child cannot move his or her muscles normally. While symptoms range from mild to severe, the condition does not get worse as the child gets older. Arbitration panels Many states have formed arbitration panels in order to resolve disputes between doctors and their patients.

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

	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.