Editing Res ipsa loquitur (section)

==Elements==
#The injury is of the kind that does not ordinarily occur without negligence or is uncommon in the course and nature of said act.
#The injury is caused by an agency or instrumentality within the exclusive control of the defendant.
#The injury-causing accident is not by any voluntary action or contribution on the part of the plaintiff.
#The defendant's non-negligent explanation does not completely explain plaintiff's injury.<ref name="Elements establishing res ipsa loquitur">{{cite web |title=Res Ipsa Loquitur (Inference of Negligence in Civil Proceedings) |url=https://nycourts.gov/JUDGES/evidence/3-PRESUMPTIONS/3.02_Res_Ipsa_Loquitor.pdf |website=New York Courts |publisher=New York State Department of Justice |access-date=2 March 2025}}</ref>

The first element may be satisfied in one of three ways:<ref name="Elements establishing res ipsa loquitur" />

{{ordered list|list_style_type=lower-alpha
| The injury itself is sufficient to prove blatant or palpable negligence as a matter of law, such as amputation of the wrong limb or leaving instruments inside the body after surgery.
| The general experience and observation of mankind is sufficient to support the conclusion that the injury would not have resulted without negligence, such as a hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) performed when the patient consented only to a tubal ligation (clipping of the fallopian tubes for purposes of sterilization).
| Expert testimony creates an inference that negligence caused the injury, such as an expert general surgeon testifying that he has performed over 1000 appendectomies (removal of the appendix) and has never caused injury to a patient's liver. He also does not know of any of his surgeon colleagues having inflicted injury to a patient's liver during an appendectomy. The testimony would create an inference that injuring the liver in the course of an appendectomy is negligence.}}

The second element is discussed further in the section below. The third element requires the absence of contributory negligence from the plaintiff. The fourth element emphasizes that defendant may defeat a ''res ipsa loquitur'' claim by producing evidence of a non-negligent scenario that would completely explain plaintiff's injury and negate all possible inferences that negligence could have occurred.<ref name="Elements establishing res ipsa loquitur" />