g1smd - 8:19 am on Nov 30, 2010 (gmt 0)

Gross negligence is one of those things that is only truly defined after the fact, based on what actually happened.

That is, doing something that results in someone breaking their leg might be negligence, but if they had died it would suddenly be gross negligence. So, it's often not the event itself that decides this, it's the outcome of the event.