The phrase "medical malpractice" is a broad legal term generally used to describe any medical care, or medical treatment, lack of medical treatment, or other departure from the reasonable accepted standards of medical care in the community, or safety on the part of a health care provider that causes harm to a patient for a number of different things. In fact, examples of medical malpractice are too numerous to list here for this FAQ answer. This definition is true in all of the states, not just California.
You should know that medical malpractice can include the following items: a misdiagnosis, improper treatment, failure to treat, delay in treatment, failure to perform appropriate follow-up, prescription errors, or the like. In many instances, medical malpractice is not obvious to a lay-person and requires the review and analysis by medical experts, and special time frames apply in California in order to file a lawsuit against a negligent doctor, or medical provider or facility. Even more reason to contact a California medical malpractice lawyer in your area to help you.