BREACH OF DUTY ACCORDING TO MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE LAW IN NIGERIA AND MALAYSIA

Abstract

Medical negligence is an area that travels across a range of issues in societies today including Nigeria and Malaysia. Medical negligence constitutes an act or omission by a medical practitioner which falls below the accepted standard of care resulting in injury or death of a patient. A breach of duty presumes the existence of this unacceptable standard and therefore, it lies at the heart of negligence claims.
With Nigeria and Malaysia being common law countries, similar principles in determining a breach of duty in treatment, diagnosis and information disclosure is expected. In determining the breach of duty to treat and diagnose, both countries share similar principles as they rely on the Bolam-Bolitho test. However, Malaysia applies the Rogers’ principle in determining the duty to disclose information, but
Nigeria still shows possibility of applying the Bolam-Bolitho principle. This can be attributed to the scanty case laws on medical negligence in Nigeria.