Are medical malpractice claims limited only to physicians?

Essentially, any medical professional, such as a nurse, a therapist, a pharmacist or a medical doctor can be subject to medical malpractice claims.

There is a standard of care for each aspect of healthcare and all professionals should consider carrying professional liability insurance to protect them in the event of suit being filed against them.

There may be causes of action where two or more medical professionals are named in a medical malpractice lawsuit, such as in the case of an injury resulting during childbirth, for example. The attending physician may be listed as well as any nurses or midwives caring for the patient. This is termed as join and several liabilities, wherein more than one party may be named as a defendant.

The term vicarious liability also refers to situations in which perhaps a hospital would be vicariously liable for any acts committed by its employee physician or nurse attending the injured party.