AN APPRAISAL OF THE LIABILITY REGIME FOR MEDICAL MALPRACTICES IN NIGERIA

Medical practice is bedeviled with medical practitioner’s practices that are contrary to the ethics of the profession, which consist of incbility to effectively exercise the duty of care and skill on a pat ent. Judgments or actions of a medical practitioner require more than is expected of the practitioner that is why a medical practitioner should exhibit the due care and skill in the discharge of his profession. This duty of a medical practitioner must conform to the ethics of his profession so that he is not found wanting for professional misconduct. For example negligence and ethical misconduct which most times result to tortious liability, contractual liability, criminal liability, corporate liability and professional liability. Problems do arise when a medical practitioner is treating a patient. The legal implications that do arise due to the medical practitioner’s act that contravenes the ethics of his profession is known as liability for medical malpractice., Medical practitioners do not advice the patient concerning the type of treatment that will be carried out nor diagnose the illness properly before treatment. Most times the medical practitioner do not seek the consent of the patient before treatment, they carry out surgical errors, medication errors. All these dereliction of professional duties results to professional negligence. The aim of this research is the appraisal of the Liability Regime for Medical Malpractice in Nigeria, with a view to examining the nature of the duty of care on medical practitioners in Nigeria and examines how they have effectively been exercising this duty of care and skill on patients and so forth. In this research work, doctrinal research and empirical research was used. Doctrinal research entails going to libraries to get in formation from various relevant enactments of primary sources, that is statutes, law reports, bye laws. Also, books of secondary sources that is a written by notable authors that are versed in that field of legal study. Empirical research, entails that the researcher must go out to conduct interviews and collect information from people of that are ve4rsed in that area of study. It is found that in correct diagnosis do occur due to inadequate medical history that is inability to interpret or identify the patient’s symptoms or failure to conduct texts. Also, most male medical practitioners examine patients alone. Also some medical practitioners conduct surgery on patients alone when the procedure of the surgery is incrediblycomplex from a practical stand point. Therefore, it is recommended and expected of the medical practitioner to possess adequate medical experience and to examine a patient in the presence of a chaperone while they are also expected to be with another colleagueof the same specialty and a senior nursing officer while conducting surgery in an operating theatre because as the saying goes, two heads are better than one.