Standard of medical care The Nebraska Supreme Court
A physician is not responsible for the consequences of an
honest mistake or error in judgment in his diagnosis.
- A
patient is entitled to an ordinary, careful, and thorough examination…and,
while he does not insure the correctness of his diagnosis, a physician or
surgeon is required to use reasonable skill and care…If he omits to inform
himself, by proper examination, as to the facts and circumstances and
injury results, he is not relieved of liability of errors in judgment…It
is the duty of a physician or surgeon in diagnosing a case to use due
diligence in ascertaining all available facts and collecting data
essential to a proper diagnosis.
- The
Minnesota Supreme Court in 1976 published its perspective Negligence
cannot be found when the facts show no more than an error in diagnosis
which…may be the result of an error in judgment rather than negligence…A
physician is not responsible for the consequences of an honest mistake or
error in judgment in his diagnosis.
- Five
years later, an Illinois appellate court issued this commentary the
plaintiff must demonstrate what the average reasonable physician in good
standing…would have done in a similar case.
- Proof
of a bad result or a mishap is not evidence of lack of skill or
negligence. If a doctor has given a plaintiff the benefit of his best
judgment, assuming that judgment to be equal to that ordinarily used by
reasonably well–qualified doctors in similar cases, he is not liable for
negligence, even if that judgment is erroneous…Plaintiff has established
that other physicians may have handled her case differently, but we find that
a reasonably well–qualified doctor might well have proceeded in the same
manner as defendant.
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