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Medical Malpractice or Medical Negligence?

While searching for nurses who have been sued for medical malpractice, I came across Legal Law Help site and certain post makes me stop and think for a while. The said post talks about medical malpractice and medical negligence.


Here's the part of the write-up that makes me wonder whether the words medical malpractice and medical negligence can be used interchangeably.

WHAT IS MEDICAL MALPRACTICE?
Medical Malpractice, also called medical negligence, is the failure of a medical professional to meet the standard of good medical practice in the field in which the medical professional practices.
Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider - doctor, hospital, HMO, nurse, other individual or entity licensed to provide medical care or treatment - does something that competent doctors would not have done, or fails to do what a competent doctor would have done, resulting in personal injury or wrongful death.

But as far as I can recall my law101, malpractice and negligence are two different law terms with different meanings. The first term is used to refer when a professional did a wrong thing or procedure that results in injury or damage. The latter term is used when a professional knows what must be done but failed to do it. Hence, medical malpractice should never be used as synonym for medical negligence.

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