Professionals are held to a higher standard of care than the average person in society. These people take oaths in their professions and need to maintain that in their lives. The causation of negligence is the third critical element of the lawsuit. Both actual cause and proximate cause are considered. Actual cause asks the question of whether the person being sued, the defendant, was the actual cause of injuries sustained by the person initiating the lawsuit, the plaintiff.
Proximate cause looks at the issue of foreseeability.
When considering the event that has happened, it is asked whether or not the injuries sustained were foreseeable or too remotely connected to the incident to even consider. The final element of a negligence lawsuit is the damages being sought. Damages are what the plaintiff is seeking in recovering for the incident resulting from the negligent act. Compensatory damages are designed to compensate the plaintiff for actual costs incurred. Of those, there are general and special damages.