Negligence is a lack of care or negligence related to a situation. Recklessness consists of an action that was not thought out, done without precautions. Malpractice is the lack of specific ability to develop a technical or scientific activity.
| Negligence | imprudence | malpractice | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Definition | Carelessness and deliberate negligence in a given situation. | Lack of reflection or precipitation in taking attitudes different from those learned or expected. | Lack of specific knowledge or ability to develop a scientific or technical activity. |
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Despite having very different meanings, there are those who confuse negligence, imprudence and malpractice. The words convey an idea of carelessness, but there are distinctly significant details about each.
What is negligence?
The word negligence is used to designate a lack of care in a specific situation.
In everyday use and in law, it implies a lack of diligence or laziness, and may also mean the absence of purposeful reflection on a given subject.
Because it is characterized by an individual's lack of action, negligence also carries the meaning of passivity and inertia. It is an omission to the duties that various situations demand.
examples of negligence
- If a judge takes custody of a child from the parents through negligence, it means that, in some way, those responsible have failed in important duties for the child's well-being. Some of these duties are not feeding, not taking to school and not providing the necessary security for a healthy development.
- In the field of medicine, negligence can be serious and even fatal. Negligent actions in this context are the most diverse, such as abandoning a patient or omitting treatment, as well as a surgeon forgetting something strange in the patient's body after the operation.
- There is also the negligence of information, when important data on certain subjects (such as medical records or scientific articles) are omitted from the document in which they should appear.
What is recklessness?
Recklessness also characterizes a lack of care, but before that, a form of rashness. It is disrespecting a previously learned conduct and acting without precautions. This can bring risks to the situation in which the reckless individual finds himself, as well as to third parties involved.
The behavior of a reckless person is usually positive. Guilt comes with taking action. That is, recklessness only becomes evident to the individual at the same time that he practices the conduct of omission and lack of precaution.
examples of recklessness
- In traffic, overtaking a vehicle on the shoulder is reckless. This is because the driver acts without reflecting on the consequences of his actions. In action, he does not take the necessary precautions to avoid an accident, as doing this type of maneuver can cause fatal disasters.
- Do not use the personal protective equipment (PPE) provided for a given activity. If there is an accident that could have been avoided with the use of safety devices, the subject is considered reckless, since he did not act with the necessary zeal for the action.
worth mentioning: If a company where there are risks for the employee does not provide PPE, the organization is being negligent.
What is malpractice?
Malpractice is a lack of specific ability to develop a technical or scientific activity. In this case, the individual does not take into account what he knows or should know, assuming the action without aptitude to develop it.
examples of malpractice
- An example that clearly elucidates malpractice is a doctor who has no knowledge of plastic surgery performing this type of operation. Due to not having the necessary skill for the activity, the risks of this action are many, and may even result in the deformation of the patient.
- Another situation of malpractice would be for an electrical engineer to undertake the construction of a building without having the necessary knowledge of civil engineering.
- More everyday, it is a form of malpractice for someone to repair a motor vehicle without having knowledge of mechanics, which can lead to risks for the driver.
By creating these risks, and possible bad outcomes, professionals are considered “experts”. That is, unable to perform the task in question.
All of the above situations may be subject to civil and criminal punishment, depending on the seriousness of what was committed.
See also the difference between:
- guardianship and guardianship
