What is the legal term for harming an individual by failing to perform at the necessary standard of care?

Negligence is the legal term used to describe the act of harming an individual by failing to meet the required standard of care. In the context of emergency care, this implies that a caregiver or technician did not act as a reasonably prudent individual would have in a similar situation, leading to harm or injury to a patient. For negligence to be established, four elements must typically be present: a duty of care owed to the patient, a breach of that duty, causation linking the breach to the injury, and actual damages incurred as a result.

In comparison, abandonment refers to the improper termination of care after it has begun, which can also result in harm but is a different legal concept entirely. Assumed consent occurs in scenarios where a person is unable to provide consent and emergency care is necessary, while implied consent tends to apply in situations where consent is inferred through actions rather than explicitly stated. These concepts do not directly address the failure to act within an appropriate standard of care, as negligence does.