duty of care
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duty of care
The legal obligation that a person may be owed by another with whom the person has no formal contractual obligation. The concept of duty of care arose in Donoghue v Stevenson, a common law case decided in 1932 in the House of Lords. In medicine, proof of negligence requires that the allegedly negligent party had undertaken an activity which could reasonably harm the plaintiff and that the defendant owed the injured party a duty of care.Segen's Medical Dictionary. © 2012 Farlex, Inc. All rights reserved.
duty of care
The legal and moral obligation to act responsibly and prudently, e.g., to avoid taking actions that one may foresee as being potentially hazardous to others.
Medical Dictionary, © 2009 Farlex and Partners