malpracticen.
/ˌmalˈpraktᵻs/, U.S. /ˌmælˈpræktəs/ 1. Chiefly Law.
a. Incompetence, negligence, or unethical conduct on the part of any professional person (esp. a lawyer), official, etc.
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1652 W. Durham Maran-atha 44 Take heed lest by your neglect, delayes, betraying of your Clients, and mal-practice of the Law, you give none occasion to those, who are already apt to speak against the Law.
1763 Brief Detail of Home Fishery 84 What remedy can there be for this mal-practice, but that of bringing fish to market in such quantities, as to render it cheap in the first instance?
1861 Decisions P. Sprague District Court Mass. 1841–61 495 The proctor, if colluding or aiding in the supposed evasion of the law, may be compelled to pay the costs out of his own pocket, or otherwise dealt with, for malpractice.
1909 U.S. Rep. (Supreme Court) 214 8 They are..‘ex officio justices of the peace, and shall be removable on conviction for malpractice in office’.
1956 Dior v. Milton in N.Y. Suppl. 2nd Ser. CLV. 452 With the passage of those simple and halcyon days when the chief business malpractice was ‘palming off’,..many courts..have extended the doctrine of unfair competition.
1960 J. Freeman in New Statesman 15 Oct. 556/1 Questions..about..allegations of malpractice in his union amounted to public trial by television.
1977 E. Johnson Charles Dickens xli. 429 A pushing and unscrupulous barrister who was later disbarred for malpractice.
1991 Economist 3 Aug. 13/2 America's Justice Department was less than helpful in complementing the efforts of bank regulators to obtain evidence of malpractice at BCCI.
b. spec. Treatment given by a member of the medical profession that departs from a generally accepted standard of practice and results in injury to the patient, through negligence, ignorance, lack of skill, or malicious intent.
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society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > specific offences > [noun] > malpractice by physician
mala praxis1660
malpractice1671
malpraxis1860
1671 E. Maynwaring Praxis Medicorum 20 Well then, you Prescriber in the mode of male-Practice.
1694 W. Salmon Pharmacopœia Bateana i. vii. 314/1 I give this Relation..to convince,..those Homicides [sc. Pretenders to Physick] of their Barbarity and Male practise.
1751 T. Smollett Peregrine Pickle II. lxxv. 295 The male practice of a surgeon.
1826 A. C. Hutchison Pract. Observ. Surg. (ed. 2) 181 This boy is dangerously ill, and likely to die, in consequence of such malpractice.
1863 J. G. Holland Lett. to Joneses xx. 286 A professional brother, prosecuted for malpractice, is always sure you will do what you can to clear him.
1937 T. A. Gonzales et al. Legal Med. & Toxicol. p. vii The subjects which are considered a part of medical jurisprudence, such as the corpus delicti,..malpractice, insanity, and insurance.
1975 I. Illich Med. Nemesis i. 25 The depersonalization of diagnosis and therapy has turned malpractice from an official into a technical problem.
2. An illegal or improper act by a professional person or an official, esp. one by which the position or office of the perpetrator is used to his or her benefit at the cost of another; an abuse of position.
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the mind > goodness and badness > wrongdoing > [noun]
unrightOE
witec1175
misbodea1200
misguiltc1200
misdoinga1225
miss?c1225
trespassinga1340
forfeiturec1380
offensiona1382
crimec1384
abusion?1387
evil-doing1398
mistakinga1400
offendinga1425
transgression1426
wrongingc1449
digression1517
digressinga1535
transgressing1535
swerving1545
misdealing1571
transgress1578
misfaring1595
misacting1651
malpractice1739
malfeasance1856
wrongdoing1874
miscreance1972
society > morality > moral evil > wrong conduct > evildoing or wrongdoing > [noun]
sinc825
naughteOE
unnuteOE
sinningc1000
unrightOE
un-i-selthlOE
wonder1154
misguiltc1200
misdoinga1225
teeninga1225
miss?c1225
crimec1250
misdeed?c1250
wickednessa1300
mischiefa1387
evil-doing1398
mistakinga1400
perpetrationc1429
wrongingc1449
maledictionc1475
maleficence1533
wicked-doing1535
foul play1546
misdealing1571
flagition1598
delinquency1603
malefaction1604
meschancy1609
malefacture1635
misacting1651
guilt1726
flagitiosity1727
malpractice1739
malfeasance1856
peccation1861
miscreance1972
society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > specific offences > [noun] > misuse of a liberty, benefit, or trust
misuser1607
abusera1616
misdoing1632
malpractice1739
malpraxis1866
1739 Boston Weekly Post-boy 2 July 3/2 One of the King of Prussia's Privy Council, having been convicted of Male-Practices, in the Administration of the Revenues of the New-Mark, his Prussian Majesty, in order to make an Example of him, has condemned him to be whipt.
1751 T. Pellow Hist. Long Captivity 354 He [sc. the governor of Ducallah] sent his brother the day before to secure him [sc. the governor of Willadea], and for male practices to bring him to Ducallah before him.
1759 Ann. Reg. 1758 85 He was charged for male-practices in the management of his command abroad.
1768 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. III. 408 King Edward..found it necessary..to prosecute his judges for their corruption and other mal-practices.
1773 Gentleman's Mag. 43 199 Charges of extortion, and other mal-practices, had been brought against a British subject.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. xv. 528 The malpractices, which had done more than the exhalations of the marshes of Dundalk to destroy the efficiency of the English troops, were likely to be as monstrous as ever. Every part of the administration was thoroughly disorganized.
1895 Pop. Sci. Monthly Sept. 717 Malpractices begin with the prospectus and continue till liquidation.
1925 V. Woolf Mrs. Dalloway 175 He had no illusions about the London police. Indeed, he was collecting evidence of their malpractices.
1970 R. Barber Knight & Chivalry iv. xvii. 265 He laid a list of complaints before the Pope, alleging a series of malpractices in the exercise of their power.
1987 tr. M. Gorbachev Perestroika i. 23 Many Party members in leading posts stood beyond control and criticism, which led to failures in work and to serious malpractices.
3. gen. An improper or criminal act or practice; wrongdoing, misconduct, or an example of this.
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society > law > rule of law > lawlessness > [noun] > violation of law > something illicit or criminal
malpractice1790
dirty work at the crossroads1914
1790 Coll. Voy. round World I. vi. 136 When another canoe was struck for their mal-practices, the natives behaved in the same manner.
1812 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 19 The outrages..have assumed a more decided character than at any period since the commencement of the malpractises.
1851 W. M. Thackeray Kickleburys on Rhine (ed. 2) 73 Fanny was almost ready to tell fibs to screen her brother's malpractices from her mamma.
a1861 A. H. Clough Amours de Voyage in Poems (1862) xi. 141 I tremble for something factitious, Some malpractice of heart and illegitimate process.
1884 J. Colborne With Hicks Pasha in Soudan 79 We took pains..to correct the malpractice of the men.
1901 Field 5 Jan. 19/3 Very gradually, may be, the otterers will learn that they are ruining many fine waters by their malpractices.
1914 J. Conrad Let. 28 Jan. (1956) 244 I suppose I must put up with being found out in my innocent malpractices.
1971 Illustr. Weekly India 4 Apr. 11/3 Besides, they have helped in removing a number of malpractices in the community like child marriage, polygamy.
1993 OR/MS Today Aug. 62/2 This volume shows the reader..how to ‘unlearn’ the traditional management technologies that lead to strategic mistakes and malpractices.
Compounds
General attributive.
malpractice case n.
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1860 J. J. Elwell Medico-Legal Treat. Malpractice 8 Eight to ten Malpractice cases, in all of which the surgeon had the alternative presented to him of compromising..the honor of his profession, by paying damages, or contesting the question in a court of justice.
1971 N.Y. Law Jrnl. 23 Nov. 12/4 The attention of the Bar is called to the fact that all cases..will be done on a split trial basis. This applies to all except malpractice cases.
1993 Dog World Feb. 44/3 You can't win a malpractice case against your veterinarian merely because of an error in judgement.
malpractice insurance n.
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1943 Federal Reporter 2nd Ser. 132 441/2 When the Home Office received the daily report they noticed a beauty parlor among the insureds and they sent these Malpractice Endorsements out to be signed because the Ocean does not write ‘malpractice insurance’.
1976 National Observer (U.S.) 6 Nov. 2/3 Doctors have received most of the attention and complained most bitterly about the high cost of malpractice insurance.
1992 J. Mitford Amer. Way Birth viii. 153 The astronomic rise in malpractice insurance premiums.
malpractice suit n.
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1870 Med. Gaz. (N.Y.) 1 Oct. 216/1 We have received..a report of the proceedings in the alleged malpractice suit of Walsh versus Sayre.
1963 Reader's Digest May 89/1 The best known and most effective curb of the malpractice-suit racket is California's so-called Good Samaritan law.
1993 Time (Nexis) 18 Jan. 26/1 This reform..would free physicians from the expensive practice of ‘defensive medicine’, in which they order unnecessary tests and perform unneeded procedures to give themselves extra protection from malpractice suits.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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