An Introduction to Negligence for Health Professionals

A video from ECU's archive of documentaries and teaching films.

Health professionals may face an action in negligence if a patient suffers damage and the delivery of the health care was below the expected standard for the ordinary reasonable practitioner. Four legal cases have been dramatised to illustrate the elements a plaintiff needs to establish to bring a successful action in negligence.

The dramatised cases are:

• Donoghue v. Stevenson [1932] All ER 1
• Rogers v. Whitaker (1992) 175 CLR 479
• Peters v. Minister of Health as the Hawthorn Hospital and Stagg (unreported WA District Court, 9, 10 April 1980 No 3109/78)
• Barnett v. Chelsea and Kensington Hospital Management Committee [1969] 1 QB 428

Produced by George Karpathakis.