The implied contract of a physician or
surgeon is not to cure…but to treat the case with diligence and skill.
- In 1832 Connecticut court focused
on the word "ordinary "A physician and surgeon, in the
performance of his professional duties, is liable for injuries resulting
from the want of ordinary diligence, care and skill…"Ordinary"
means usual, common…If in the performance of any operation there was a
want of ordinary diligence, care, and skill, or if there was carelessness,
then the defendant–physician is liable.
- Twenty–one years later, the
Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled similarly, emphasizing the word
"reasonable," in addition to "ordinary."
- The implied contract of a
physician or surgeon is not to cure…but to treat the case with diligence
and skill. The question is...whether the doctor had employed such skill
and diligence as are ordinarily exercised in his profession… The rule (is)
to be reasonable…The law demands…not extraordinary skill such as belongs
only to a few men of rare genius and endowments, but that degree which
ordinarily characterizes the profession.
- In 1860, the Supreme Court of
Illinois issued its first decision on what constitutes the standard of
care of a medical physician. The lawsuit claimed that a physician, who
incidentally was represented by a then–practicing attorney named Abraham
Lincoln, had been negligent for improperly applying a cast to treat a
wrist fracture that had been sustained by the plaintiff. The court
declared
- When a person assumes the
profession of physician and surgeon, he must…be held to employ a
reasonable amount of skill and care. For anything short of that degree of
skill in his practice, the law will hold him responsible for any injury
which may result from its absence. While he is not required to possess the
highest order of qualification, to which men attain, still he must possess
and exercise that degree of skill which is ordinarily possessed by members
of the profession. And whether the injury results from a want of skill or
the want of its application, he will, in either case, be equally liable.
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