Court Opinion

ID: 9521912
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:15:02.969002+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:01:27.612338
License: Public Domain

GIVAN, Justice,
concurring in result.
Although the majority opinion states that it is abandoning the modified locality rule, they claim the rule now to be that the physician must exercise the care and skill of practitioners in the same class to which he belongs and “acting in the same or similar circumstances.” They go on to state that “[ojther relevant considerations would include advances in the profession, availability of facilities, and whether the doctor is a specialist or general practitioner.”
I do not perceive this “new standard” to differ materially from the modified locality rule. The ability of a physician to perform may well. be vastly different in a small rural community hospital than that same physician might be able to perform in a large well-equipped metropolitan hospital.
I believe the majority has articulated a distinction without a difference. I would not confuse the issue by purporting to do away with the modified locality rule.