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 Utah, medical malpractice claims are governed by the Utah Health Care Malpractice Act. The elements of a health care liability claim in Utah are consistent with the general outline provided. Specifically, the plaintiff must establish that the health care provider (which can include physicians, hospitals, or other health care entities) owed a duty of care to the patient, breached that duty by failing to adhere to the accepted standard of medical care, and that this breach was the proximate cause of the patient's injury. Utah law requires that the standard of care be established by expert medical testimony, which is typically provided by other health care professionals in the same field. Additionally, Utah imposes a statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims, which generally requires that a lawsuit be filed within two years of the date of the alleged malpractice or within two years of the discovery of the injury. There are also pre-litigation requirements, such as submitting a claim to a pre-litigation panel before proceeding to court. These procedural steps are designed to screen out non-meritorious claims and encourage settlement before a lawsuit is filed.