Standards of Care & Malpractice in Psychiatry - Introduction[0000-00-00 ]
Professional malpractice can be defined as "an act or omission by a professional while carrying out his/her professional duties, causing or aggravating an injury which is the direct result of the professional's failing to exercise a reasonable degree of prudence, diligence, knowledge, or skill". In other words, to he held liable, a professional must either do something that he/she shouldn't have done, or failed to do something he/she should have done, and such commission or ommission on his/her part clearly fell below the level of care that would be provided by an average professional in that field under similar circumstances.
Many physicians including psychiatrists are sued during their professional life. In general, psychiatrists are not sued as often as the physicians practicing in technology-rich specialties. However, if psychiatrists are involved in hospital-based care and medication management of patients with severe mental illness, they do become more prone to liability suits as compared to mental health professionals who are mainly providing outpatient psychotherapy. Psychiatric malpractice suits generally result in bigger awards than other liability claims but they are also less likely to be won. A claim for malpractice in psychiatry can be based on several grounds such as breach of duty, sexual misconduct, intentional tort, and even fraud. An idependent forensic psychiatric evaluation in a potential professional liability claim can be requested either by the defense or the plaintiff. In such evaluations, local jurisdictional standards are important as the "Standard of Care" is not a clinical, but a legal, concept and. Although the exact legal definition of "Standard of care" varies from state to state, in general it can be viewed as "the degree of skill, care, and diligence exercised by members of the same profession or specialty practicing in light of the present state of medical science". This standard is generally established by expert witnesses opining in legal settings and it differs from the quality of care, which is the care a patient actually receives.
