Negligence is defined as which of the following?

• A. Failure to use ordinary or reasonable care
• B. Intentional harm
• C. Violation of policy
• D. Failure to report

Answer: (A)

Negligence means failing to provide the standard of care that a reasonably prudent athletic trainer would under similar circumstances. The standard of care is what competent professionals would do in a given situation; when someone falls short of that expectation and harm results, negligence can be found. To consider it fully, think of the four elements typically present: a duty to act, a breach of that duty by not meeting the standard, causation linking the breach to the injury, and damages from the injury. The described definition matches this idea of not using ordinary or reasonable care, while intentional harm, policy violations, or simply failing to report relate to other concepts, not the basic definition of negligence. In practice, if a trainer’s actions or inaction deviate from what a reasonable professional would do and cause harm, that illustrates negligence.