Before I deal with the subject of this paper I wish to take the liberty of making some preliminary observations in this introduction relating to the public perception of medicine and law and the perception of doctors and lawyers to medicine and law in the context of medical negligence litigation. Medical negligence is an emotive subject particularly in so far as the medical profession is concerned. Mistakes in other professions can be corrected and remedied by financial compensation to the aggrieved party but in the medical profession the effect can be devastating to the patient and further the injury to the reputation of a member of the medical profession arising from a mere allegation of negligence let alone a finding of negligence by a court of competent jurisdiction can be very serious indeed. All surgery carries risks.
All medicine also carries risks.
Indeed life is full of risks. It is no doubt true that it is the doctor s duty to try to reduce the risk to a minimum, to balance the risk of one form of treatment against another and to balance the risk of any treatment as opposed to doing nothing. Most doctors appreciate these risks. Unfortunately this cannot be said of patients as most patients do not. Consequently when something goes wrong meaning when the result of treatment is less than perfect in the patient s, relative s or friends eyes, then someone must be to blame and someone must pay.