Medical Malpractice Terms and Definitions

Arbitration panels Many states have formed arbitration panels in order to resolve disputes between doctors and their patients. Tort Liability The defendant must owe a legal duty to the victim, the defendant breached that duty, the breach was the cause of an injury to the victim, there must be an injury. In most cases, there must be a physical or financial injury to the victim, but sometimes emotional distress, embarrassment, or dignitary harms are adequate for recovery. Delirium A disturbance of the brain function that causes confusion and changes in alertness, attention, thinking and reasoning, memory, emotions, sleeping patterns and coordination. Comparative negligence The doctrine of comparing degrees of fault among the responsible parties. 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. Collateral source rule Under this rule, compensation awarded to an injured party shall not be reduced by the amount of compensation available to him from his insurance company or other independent sources. Trigeminal Neuralgia A disorder of the trigeminal nerve that causes brief attacks of severe pain in the lips, cheeks, gums, or chin on one side of the face. 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. Affidavit A voluntary statement or declaration of facts that has been written down and confirmed under oath. Economic damages Funds to compensate a plaintiff for the monetary costs of an injury, such as medical bills or loss of income.

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

	Did You Know?
	Drug-switching practices happen and are very dangerous Another public-spirited drug giant, Merck, was forced to pay a settlement of $1.9 million to 17 states in 1995 for drug-switching practices involving its Medco subsidiary. Medco pharmacists, who had given excessively favorable treatment to Merck products, were thereafter required to reveal their Merck connection to their customers.