Opinion ID: 1179315
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Evidence of Standard of Care

Text: Goffe contests the holding of the Court of Appeals that no issue regarding the defendant physician's negligence was raised because such negligence must be shown be shown by expert testimony regarding the standard of care of physicians in the particular locality. If Dr. Ormsby's testimony cannot be considered, then summary judgment would be proper, provided lay testimony bearing on negligence is also unavailable. The Court of Appeals relied on language in our decision in Cervantes v. Forbis, 73 N.M. 445, 389 P.2d 210 (1964): Before a physician or surgeon can be held liable for malpractice in the treatment of his patient he must have departed from the recognized standards of medical practice in the community, or must have neglected to do something required by those standards. Id. at 448, 389 P.2d at 213 (emphasis added). This rule has been described as the so-called strict locality rule. N.M.U.J.I. Civ. 8.1, which was adopted after the decision in Cervantes, id., and became effective on September 1, 1966 states: In (treating) (operating upon) (making a diagnosis of) the plaintiff, the doctor was under the duty to possess and apply the knowledge and to use the skill and care that was ordinarily used by reasonably well qualified doctors of the same field of medicine as that of the defendant practicing under similar circumstances, giving due consideration to the locality involved. A failure to do so would be a form of negligence that is called malpractice. (emphasis added). The adoption of this rule by the New Mexico Supreme Court indicated a change in the law. We hereby modify Cervantes v. Forbis, supra, and Gandara v. Wilson, 85 N.M. 161, 509 P.2d 1356 (Ct.App. 1973) and other cases insofar as they purport to mandate a strict-locality rule and we declare that the first paragraph of N.M.U.J.I.Civ. 8.1 is the correct statement of New Mexico law. Evidence of the standard of knowledge, skill and care owed by a physician to his patient can be provided by expert testimony of the knowledge, skill and care ordinarily used by reasonably well-qualified doctors of the same field of medicine practicing under similar circumstances, and this includes testimony from doctors from the same or other localities. Los Alamos Medical Center v. Coe, 58 N.M. 686, 275 P.2d 175 (1954). Under N.M.U.J.I. Civ. 8.1 due consideration must be given by the fact-finder to the locality involved and the ways, if any, in which it differs from the locality about which the expert testifies, but this is merely one factor for the fact-finder to consider. See generally Shier v. Freedman, 58 Wis.2d 269, 206 N.W.2d 166 (1973) for a discussion of reasons for adopting rules such as our already-adopted N.M.U.J.I. Civ. 8.1. That court, after examining the myriad of cases, texts and law review articles on this highly controversial subject held as follows: Henceforth, in instructing juries in medical malpractice cases, the jury should be told in substance that a qualified medical (or dental) practitioner, be he a general practitioner or a specialist, should be subject to liability in an action for negligence if he fails to exercise that degree of care and skill which is exercised by the average practitioner in the class to which he belongs, acting in the same or similar circumstances. Geographical area and its attendant lack of facilities are circumstances that can be considered if appropriate. Shier, id. at 283-284, 206 N.W.2d at 174. This language compares favorably with our N.M.U.J.I. Civ. 8.1. See Judge Sutin's dissenting opinion in the Court of Appeals, Goffe v. Pharmaseal Laboratories, Inc., 90 N.M. 764, 568 P.2d 600 (Ct.App., filed December 7, 1976).