Which four elements must be established to prove a nursing malpractice claim?

• A. Duty, breach, causation, and damages
• B. Duty, breach, causation, and remedies
• C. Duty, negligence, causation, and damages
• D. Duty, breach, causation, and ethics

Answer: (A)

Four elements must be proven to establish a nursing malpractice claim: duty, breach, causation, and damages. Duty means the nurse owed the patient a recognized obligation to provide competent, standard-of-care care. If there’s no duty, there’s no claim. Breach occurs when the nurse fails to meet that standard—an act or omission that falls short of what a reasonably skilled nurse would do in the same situation. Causation requires a direct link between the breach and the injury; the harm must be shown to result from the nurse’s deviation from the standard of care. Damages are the actual harm or financial loss suffered by the patient as a result. Without damages, a claim fails even if there was a breach and causation. The other options introduce terms that aren’t required elements: remedies refers to relief rather than a foundational element of the tort, ethics relates to professional guidelines rather than legal proof, and while negligence is related to unprofessional conduct, the established four elements are duty, breach, causation, and damages.