The law of negligence means any negligent
act or which falls short of a standard to be
expected of "the reasonable man"
What is
the definition of “reasonable?” This appears
to be a grey area as with much of U.K. law,
and we suggest you speak to your solicitor
to ascertain case histories.
A famous case once ruled that a doctor is
not in breach of the duty of care "if he has
acted in accordance with a practice accepted
as proper by a responsible body of medical
men skilled in that particular art".
In plain English this means that a judge
will hear evidence from experts in the
appropriate speciality and must decide
whether the actions of the
doctor/midwife/nurse etc. were proper.
Often there are several acceptable ways
of doing something and compliance and this
may mean that there is no breach of duty of
care.
Naturally experts often disagree over
these issues and the judge must decide whose
evidence is to be preferred.
The fact that the person giving an
opinion would not have done things in the
same way does not automatically mean that
there a was breach of duty of care.
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