Court Opinion

ID: 9542073
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:31:00.302429+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:06:29.078107
License: Public Domain

WILKINS, Justice
(concurring in the holding):
I believe that in adopting the similar locality rule, it should be defined as it was by Waltz, 18 DePaul L.Rev. at 415 (1969), when he said:
The modern view of a majority of courts is that a medical expert is free to testify in a malpractice case if his community or other communities with which he is familiar bear sufficient similarity to that of the defendant. And in determining similarity the courts will not now look to such socio-economic facts as population, type of economy, and income level but to factors more directly relating to the practice of medicine. In the main, an expert practicing in a locality having medical facilities comparable to those existing in the defendant’s community is permitted to testify concerning the standard of care governing the defendant. The number and quality of hospitals, laboratories and medical schools are typical considerations. Of course, the nature of the community in which the witness currently practices is irrelevant if he happens also to possess familiarity with standards in the defendant’s locale or in areas sufficiently similar to it.
And I further believe that medical specialists are held to a higher standard of care than doctors in general practice. A national standard of care is realistic and appropriate concerning specialists and that standard was discussed in the following language of the Michigan Supreme Court, which I adopt, in Nacarrato v. Grob, 384 Mich. 248, 180 N.W.2d 788, 791 (1970):
The reliance of the public upon the skills of a specialist and the wealth and sources of his knowledge are not limited to the geographic area in which he practices. Rather his knowledge is a specialty. He specializes so that he may keep abreast. Any other standard for a specialist would negate the fundamental expectations and purpose of a specialty. The standard of care for a specialist should be that of a reasonable specialist practicing medicine in the light of present day scientific knowledge. Therefore, geographical conditions or circum*821stances control neither the standard of a specialist’s care nor the competence of an expert’s testimony.