Evolution of Law of Medical Negligence Essays
That the negligence is a relatively new legal concept is evident in that it was in 1883 when the foundation of negligence law was laid in Heaven v Pender (1,2), and only as late as in 1932 were all of its essential components came into definitive and widely acceptable shape in decision of the famous case of Donoghue v Stevenson (2, 3).Evolution of Law of Medical Negligence Essays Ever since then, the legal responsibilities embedded in and the scope and categories of negligence have been so constantly evolving and being expanded, that it is hardly to be overlooked that its relevancy and application to medical malpractice have assumed a significant role in modern medico-legal issues and centred on the debate. Nevertheless, it is beyond dispute that the progression of conception of medical negligence and expansion of corresponding legal responsibility have always been intimately intertwined with and subject to the transforming interaction of public policy and values, social conditions and sentiment, and community expectations.Evolution of Law of Medical Negligence Essays Lack of precise legal definition as contract or property and fraught with subjective terminology as reasonability, rationality and responsibility, negligence law (4) inevitably depends on interpretation on every constituent factor, rendering it prone to influential force of variable, even subtle, contemporary social and political values, change of which, resulted from novel circumstances as social development and technology advance, gives rise to the uncertainty and changes to the negligence law since it emergence (5).
Back to the 19th century, legal liability was restricted to actions, or actus reus, causing “direct and immediate injury to the person or damage to property as in a case of trespass”. Evolution of Law of Medical Negligence Essays