What does the 'foreseeability rule' require for a breach to occur?

• A. Injury must be intentional.
• B. Injury must be caused by patient noncompliance.
• C. Injury must be foreseeable in a specific scenario.
• D. Injury must be unforeseeable.

Answer: (D)

The main idea is that liability under the foreseeability rule rests on whether the injury was a predictable, probable consequence of the breach in the given situation. In medical practice, this means a clinician’s failure to meet the standard of care can lead to liability for damages only if those damages were reasonably foreseeable as a result of that breach in that specific scenario. If the harm is something that could not be anticipated from the breach, it wouldn’t be recoverable under this rule. Therefore, the best description is that injury must be foreseeable in the specific scenario.