Medical care may be considered negligent when:

• A patient was owed a duty of care by a clinical professional.
• That duty of care was breached by substandard treatment, meaning the care provided fell below the standard expected of a competent clinical professional.
• The errors made resulted in injury to the patient, which can include both physical and psychological injuries.

For a claim to be considered valid, two key conditions must be met:

1. Breach of Duty of Care:

   • It must be demonstrated that the clinical staff owed the patient a duty of care.
   • It must be shown that they breached that duty of care by making mistakes that no other health professional would have made under the same circumstances.

2. Harm Suffered Due to the Breach:

   • The harm a patient suffered must be directly linked to the clinician’s errors. This means proving that, on the balance of probability, the harm would have been avoided if the clinician had not made the errors they did. The term “balance of probability” signifies that there must be at least a 50% chance that the clinician was responsible for the harm a patient suffered. This is the standard of proof required in medical negligence claims.