Medical Malpractice Terms and Definitions

Informed Consent Is the process by which fully informed patients can participate in choices about Their healthcare. It originates from the legal and ethical right the patient has to direct what happens to her body and from the ethical duty of the physician to involve the patient in her health care. 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. Duty of Care Once a doctor or health care professional agrees to diagnose or treat a patient, he or she has assumed a duty of care toward that patient. Plaintiff The party who initiates a legal action; in a personal injury lawsuit, the person who alleges that he or she has suffered monetary damages due the negligence of another party. Interrogatories A form of discovery in which one party submits a series of written questions to the other party, and to which the latter is bound to answer under oath. Arbitration panels Many states have formed arbitration panels in order to resolve disputes between doctors and their patients. Discovery The pre-trial process, such as a deposition, by which one party discovers the evidence that will be relied upon at trial by the opposing party. Medical negligence Failure of a physician or other medical personnel to meet the standards of conduct for duties relating to the medical profession. Those standards are based on what a reasonable person with the requisite knowledge and skills would or would not do. Medical lien The right of a hospital, doctor or health care provider to assert an interest in personal injury recoveries to the extent of the cost of the treatment or service provided. Proximate Cause Proximate cause is defined legally as a cause which, in a natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by any intervening event, produces injury, and without which, the injury would not have occurred.

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

	Did You Know?
	Gastric-Bypass surgery is an intrusive & risky surgical operation Gastric-bypass malpractice occurs when a medical professional causes harm or personal injury while performing the surgery or through a general or particular negligence. Some types of gastric bypass operations: Open Roux en Y (Rny), (Restrictive with some Malabsorption) Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y,Fobi Pouch (Restrictive with Malabsorption) , stomach staple, & more.