Negligence and law

 Negligence and law (meaning and definition)

In Roman law, the terms "culpa" and "negligentia" denote negligence, as opposed to "dolus," which denotes criminal intent. "Delicentia" is the lack of "negligentia." The term diligence is no longer used in this sense in modern English, although it is nevertheless used in legal diction as an archaism. 4 Negligence is culpable (punishable) negligence that puts another person at an unacceptably high danger of damage. It is the failure to exercise the care that the defendant was required to exercise. It rules out unlawful intent since no consequence caused by carelessness could have been intended, and nothing that was meant could have been caused by carelessness.

Wrongful intent (mens rea) suggests that someone is behaving recklessly and without that design, whereas negligence implies that someone is doing carelessly and without that design. A health care provider's conduct or omission that deviates from established medical standards of practice and causes damage to a patient is known as medical negligence. Negligence is described as failing to do something that a prudent and reasonable person would do, or doing something that a prudent and reasonable person would not do, based on the principles that typically govern the conduct of human affairs.

There are three types of negligence: 

1. that in which the repercussions are foreseen and unlawfully intended; 

2. that in which the consequences are not expected and unfairly meant; and

 3. that in which the consequences are not foreseen and wrongfully intended. 

Those that are not intended but could have been avoided if they had been predicted.  Those that were not anticipated or planned but should have been anticipated and avoided. Obviously, the first clause is illegal. However, a medical practitioner must always be cautious to avoid the second clause, since the available defense is not always sufficient. In regards to the third clause, the law presumes that a doctor, as a result of his specialized training, should be cautious enough to prevent unanticipated hazards.