Abstract
Law and medical law can sometimes be confusing. Some of the terms seem to mean the same thing or even sound the same. Contributory negligence and comparative negligence are two legal terms that have almost the same definition. This report will explain the difference between the 2 negligence as well as an example case to show what one of these negligence’s might look like.
Contributory negligence vs. Comparative negligence
What are the differences between contributory negligence and comparative negligence? Well in a nutshell, so to speak, both of these types of negligence states that a plaintiff cannot sue and receive compensation. To break it down even further the next two paragraphs will discuss the difference between contributory and comparative negligence.
So what is comparative negligence? Comparative negligence comes into play when it is contended that two or more parties failed to perform at the standard of the “ordinary reasonable person” (injury-law). This means that if a person that is in the wrong injures another person that was in the wrong as well; both parties would be compensated but divided (i.e. 60/40). In a situation where each party has some degree of negligence in causing an accident, the responsibility to the other person(s) is reduced by other’s degree of negligence (injury-law).
Now that we know something about comparative negligence, what is contributory negligence? Contributory negligence is a doctrine of common law that if a person was injured in part due to his/her own negligence, the injured party would not be entitled to collect any damages from another party who supposedly caused the accident (dictionary.law.com). The next paragraph will show an example contributory negligence.
Example: The physician advised his patients that an X-ray