Opinion ID: 1195576
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Expertise

Text: The charges present questions involving a high degree of medical expertise. Timely completion of patient histories and physical examinations are factual questions laymen and judges might be competent to determine. However, questions whether plaintiff visited hospitalized patients on a timely basis, or overutilized facilities, involve not only the issues of when patients were visited and what practices were used but also require application of appropriate medical standards. Institutional competency requires that questions of medical judgment lie with the medical staff and the hospital administration. They  rather than judges  are trained to make these judgments. The statement of the majority ( ante, p. 825, fn. 24) that the trial judge might remand the matter for further proceedings to create a record more fully reflecting doctors' views of proper medical techniques and practices admits the problem. A judge's cram course in medicine is a poor substitute for the professional judgment of the highly educated practitioners in the field.