The answer is a health care provider is negligent if he or she fails to act in a way that is determined to be the “standard of care.” Standard of care means the acceptable way of conducting a surgery, medical procedure, diagnostic process or other health care. Standard of care is determined, in major part, by the medical profession itself. Standard, acceptably competent ways of practicing medicine have been established over time. However, those standards continually change as research, knowledge and technology advance the medical science.