Perspectives on clinical negligence in the operating theatre.

John Tingle looks at clinical negligence in his continuing analysis of how the law affects nurses and other clinical staff in the operating theatre. Everybody makes mistakes or errors at sometime or other in their careers. Some mistakes will not cause any injury and will be easily corrected whilst others may go unnoticed and may never be picked up by the patient or healthcarer. In recent years, however, patients do seem increasingly prepared to complain and in some cases to take legal action for compensation when their healthcarers' mistakes have caused them injury. It is important to stress that not every mistake can be categorised as negligence. A number of principles of negligence law have to be applied and satisfied before such a claim can be made.