ABSTRACT

This chapter presents a precis of major issues in that area: First, the effort to define the standard of care; then, the problems arising from proof that a provider fell below the prescribed standard, and the associated question of when expert testimony is necessary in medical cases; and finally, the need to articulate the rules of informed consent. The "locality" rule, most sympathetic to doctors, made the standard that of "other doctors in the same community. Negligence generalized standards become more specific in application to medical injuries, as well as cases involving alleged malpractice in other professions. There are variations on the question of what kinds of witnesses may be used in medical cases. Arguments about justice continue when the topic is how a medical injury occurred. The most sympathetic of these rules for plaintiffs requires only the showing of an unusual event.