Like nursing malpractice, a physician assistant can depart from good and accepted standards of medical practice in treating patients that can cause grievous harm.  Because a physician assistant has more medical training than most nurses or nurse practitioners and his/her role is to assist physicians in caring for their patients both in the office as well as in the hospital, they have more knowledge and responsibility in terms of diagnosing and treating patients.  This includes being aware of medical signs, symptoms of various medical conditions and the significance and consequences of these signs and symptoms.  Like a physician, a physician assistant, has a duty to treat in accordance with good and accepted  standards of medical practice for physician assistants.