Hospital malpractice occurs when the staff of a hospital engages in improper or negligent medical treatment of a patient that causes that patient to sustain injuries. The standards that health care providers are held to are viewed in the context of what is reasonably expected of the particular hospital in which they work. For example, the care provided in a small town with limited resources is not held to the same standard as is the medical staff of a state-of-the-art facility in a major city.
In hospital malpractice cases, it is the burden of the injured victim to prove that negligence occurred, and to prove that it directly led to injury. See the following articles for more information.