Journal article
Determining the standard of care in medical malpractice: The physician's perspective
Wake Forest law review, Vol.37(3), pp.861-876
10/01/2002
Abstract
A focus group of 13 physicians and 7 attorneys with court experience in medical malpractice cases was convened to better understand the physician's perspective on determining the standard of care. The role of the physician expert witness and whether malpractice cases should be decided on the basis of a "reasonable" standard of care (what a reasonable physician would have done) or on the basis of a "customary" standard of care (what physicians would customarily or typically do in similar circumstances) were emphasized. The physicians in the focus group favored the customary standard, fearing that a reasonable standard could easily migrate toward the ideal. The paradox implied by determining the standard of care based on custom in the absence of an adequate mechanism for assessing what is customary is troubling. However, the focus group favored the current system in which expert witnesses tend to assume that they would have done what most physicians would do.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Determining the standard of care in medical malpractice: The physician's perspective
- Creators
- John W ElyArthur J HartzPaul A JamesCynda A Johnson
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Wake Forest law review, Vol.37(3), pp.861-876
- ISSN
- 0043-003X
- Publisher
- Wake Forest University School of Law
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 10/01/2002
- Academic Unit
- Family and Community Medicine
- Record Identifier
- 9985217109302771
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