Medical Negligence Vs Personal Injury – The Difference and Similarities

Medical negligence or personal injury – which one best suits your case? Let us sort that out once and for all. Those who suffer at the hands of others do not have the time nor the patience to go through all those hefty details and legal jargon. Therefore, we have trimmed down the information to give you the know-how of these terms.

Having some understanding of the difference between medical negligence and personal injury can make a huge difference in your case. For starters, you will know whether to file a personal injury or medical negligence without having your case dismissed and thereby saving you costs.

Personal Injury

A personal injury arises when you are affected by the acts of other people and that is no fault of your own. This can include day to day injuries. For example, accidents occurring from a passenger’s car, or slipping on a slippery floor without a sign of warning or even falling into a pit.

A personal injury case can be filed when a person of a sane mind who can act prudently acts negligently and causes someone to suffer because of his act. The person can or cannot have a legal duty to exercise care towards you. This makes sense that if personal injury is simply every action which is someone else’s fault, then negligence is the same thing, but it is not.

Medical Negligence

Medical negligence is an act of a medical practitioner, that has caused you to suffer damage; physically or emotionally. It could also be because of a lower standard of care that you received at the medical facility. This damage can include both psychological and physical damage.

If you want to sue for medical negligence, the person you are accusing must belong to the medical profession and you will have to prove a breach of care that the person owed to you. To establish such a breach you must prove that the standard of care required was lower than the accepted standards. We have got the best medical negligence lawyers in case you need one to help you with your case.

Differences and Similarities

In both medical negligence and personal injury claims, you will have to prove that the person you are suing caused your injury. In cases of medical negligence, it is very easy to prove that the person by whom you were receiving medical care gave you that care and provided you with the medication. But it is very difficult to prove that the act constituted a breach of duty to care towards you. This is the primary difference between medical negligence and personal injury.

In personals injury, this aspect lies within a grey area. The person does not necessarily have to have a duty of care towards you, but in some cases he does, and it is very easy to prove. For example, the passenger has a duty of care towards the passengers and other motorists.