Is proving a breach of the standard of care sufficient to prove malpractice?
No. A plaintiff (i.e. the person asserting the malpractice claim) must also show that the professionals negligent conduct caused harm or injury. For example, if an attorney misses a deadline or a nurse forgets to give a patient medication, but no harm results, no claim exists. Likewise, if an emergency room physician negligently fails to undertake a required step in trying to resuscitate patient, but this extra step unfortunately would not have made any impact or increased the patients chance of survival, no claim exists because there would be no causation, despite the negligence of the physician.
