Question: If you suffer a known complication from a medical procedure, does that mean the doctor committed medical malpractice?
Answer: A bad result without proof of negligence is not malpractice. See below.
Medical professionals owe a duty to ensure that their conduct meets standards set within their professional communities. A breach of this duty which results in the person receiving injury will entitle that person to proceed with a cause of action to recover for these injuries. Thus, in order to prevail in a medical malpractice action, the plaintiff must prove three elements: (1) a duty on the part of the defendant in relation to the plaintiff; (2) a failure to conform his conduct to the requisite standard of care required by the relationship; and (3) an injury to the plaintiff resulting from that failure.
Further, medical negligence is doing something a doctor should not have done under the circumstances. Under Indiana law, doctors are allowed broad discretion in selecting treatment methods. The fact that other methods existed or that another doctor would have used a different treatment does not establish medical negligence. Medical malpractice actions are similar to other negligence actions, and generally, the fact that an injury occurred will not give rise to a presumption of negligence. Medicine is not an exact science; thus, an inference of negligence will not arise merely because there is a bad result without proof of a negligent act.