Laws vary from state to state, but the elements of a health care liability claim for medical malpractice or medical negligence are generally:

• a physician or health care provider is a defendant;

• the claim or claims at issue concern treatment, lack of treatment, or a departure from accepted standards of medical care or health care, or safety, professional, or administrative services directly related to health care;

• the defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care;

• the defendant breached its duty of care by not meeting the required standard of care; and

• the defendant’s act or omission proximately caused the plaintiff’s injury (was the primary cause of the injury).

In Mississippi, medical malpractice claims are governed by state statutes and case law. To establish a medical malpractice claim in Mississippi, the following elements must be proven: (1) the existence of a physician-patient or health care provider-patient relationship, establishing a duty of care; (2) the health care provider's deviation from the accepted standard of care in the medical community; (3) a breach of the duty of care; and (4) a causal connection between the breach and the patient's injury. Mississippi law requires that before a lawsuit is filed, a plaintiff must have a qualified expert to attest that the defendant breached the standard of care and that this breach caused the injury. Additionally, Mississippi has a statute of limitations for filing medical malpractice claims, which is generally two years from the date the alleged act occurred or from when the injury was discovered or should have been discovered. There are also caps on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases in Mississippi.