Wait.
Wait. The standard is what anybody off the street thinks? Does this judge think we should apply that standard to judges and lawyers, among others? I mean, this doesn't sound reasonable but obs don't have any detailed info on the case.
https://wire.ama-assn.org/practice-management/top-court-decide-should-doctors-be-held-lay-standard?utm_source=BulletinHealthCare&utm_medium=email&utm_term=051218&utm_content=physicians&utm_campaign=article_alert-morning_rounds_weekend
https://wire.ama-assn.org/practice-management/top-court-decide-should-doctors-be-held-lay-standard?utm_source=BulletinHealthCare&utm_medium=email&utm_term=051218&utm_content=physicians&utm_campaign=article_alert-morning_rounds_weekend
https://wire.ama-assn.org/practice-management/top-court-decide-should-doctors-be-held-lay-standard?utm_source=BulletinHealthCare&utm_medium=email&utm_term=051218&utm_content=physicians&utm_campaign=article_alert-morning_rounds_weekend
https://wire.ama-assn.org/practice-management/top-court-decide-should-doctors-be-held-lay-standard?utm_source=BulletinHealthCare&utm_medium=email&utm_term=051218&utm_content=physicians&utm_campaign=article_alert-morning_rounds_weekend
I don't understand why you would want to change the jury instructions in this fashion, but I also don't understand how this favored the plaintiff-- unless in the long haul its just going to screw things up so sometimes it skews one way and sometimes skews the other because expert knowledge is sometimes counter-intuitive.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it necessarily would have changed the jury's sympathies, although a lot depends on what the actual proceedings and case were. The expectation and understanding of the average person is unlikely to be the same or even similar to that of an expert in a given field.
ReplyDeleteIn this case, it sounds like there's a question about whether or not problems with wound healing and infection were because of negligence, or within the bounds of uncommon but known complications. Then, too, it also matters how the patient was followed and treated post op. This could literally go either way, depending on details. Which means you could have dueling experts, too. But that's better than hey, if I have surgery, nothing should go wrong and if it does, you have to successfully fix it.
(It probably also matters the likely different recollections of patient and doctor regarding the whole surgical/nonsurgical options and risk/benefit discussion.)