Forensic Medicine Related Physician Liability and Malpractice

Abstract

Physicians are not held responsible for unwanted complica-tions that arise from any medical procedure. A physician will only be responsible in case of mistake (malpractice) and not risks associated with the treatment. The main medical mal-practice cases are associated with diagnoses and treatment; however, it can also include communication errors and other factors such as equipment failure. The nature, frequency, ability to treat, chance of recovery, response method, speed of treatment of the complication and informed consent of the patient are some important factors that has significant effect on expert and judicial decision making process. Some malpractice cases deal with general medical practice that every physician can experience; while other involve special-ized area of medicine or a specific diagnose-treatment pro-cedure. This article discusses legal and forensic medicine approaches to medical malpractice cases. It concentrates on examples of medical malpractice liability associated spe-cially with thoracic surgery and lung diseases.