Originally posted by ShutterBug:
In this regard, you are saying that NEGLIGENCE cannot be proven
just because an [b]"expert witness" testified that it wasn't a
requirement to view the CT scan ? Then what is/was the CT
scan for? And who was the CT scan for? A souvenir for
patient?
So by this example, in any other mishap or tragedy, caused directly
or indirectly by any professional in any specialized field of work,
an "expert witness" can come into the picture and futifully absolve
any liabilities on the part of the specialist?
[/b][/b]
One important element of negligence is to prove dereliction of
duty and the standard required is as stated in Bolam's test, ie.
the standard of any ordinary workman who professes to have an
ordinary level of skill'. It is the test of one's peers...what
another doctor at a similar grade or level of experience would have
done. He does not have to be the most skilled person, but just an
ordinary MO having the skill of any other ordinary MO.
If an expert witness testifies that he himself might not consider
it a requirement to view the CT scan, it sets the bar much higher
for the plaintiff. You have a reputable school of opinion which
holds that the action of the MO in question is reasonable. What the
plaintiff will have to do is to get more experts of his own to show
that the first expert is not reasonable. It is not enough to show
that some other experts disagree...as long as there is a minority
expert opinion that is reasonable and reputable, it suffices to
show that there is no dereliction of duty.
Of course the standard of one's peers may vary from locality to
locality. It might be perfectly reasonable to expect a MO in a
remote village of Africa to be competent enough to perform
amputations (MOs in parts of Malaysia used to do that...they were
the only doctors available and of course their medical training
must keep that in mind). That would not be reasonable in Singapore,
of course.
If junior doctors are not given sufficient exposure and experience
during supervised training to perform a given procedure, the
standard expected of them will drop for that procedure.
