Proximate cause means

• A. Injury/harm was a direct result of what the provider did or did not do
• B. The provider had a license
• C. The patient consented
• D. The event occurred by chance

Answer: (A)

Proximate cause is the legal link that connects the clinician’s conduct to the patient’s injury, focusing on whether the harm would have occurred if the provider had acted differently. In liability terms, it means the provider’s breach of the standard of care must be the direct, foreseeable cause of the harm—the injury would not have happened but for that act or omission, and the harm is a natural consequence of that breach. If an intervening factor breaks the causal chain, or if the injury results primarily from chance, there isn’t proximate cause.

The statement that the injury or harm was a direct result of what the provider did or did not do best captures this idea of a direct causal link leading to liability. The other ideas describe qualifications or circumstances (license, consent) or a chance event, which do not establish the necessary causal connection for liability.