How would a jury decide if my doctor committed malpractice?
A jury will compare your doctor’s conduct with how other doctors would have acted if faced with the same or similar circumstances. The doctor is not compared to a person in the general population. Instead, the doctor is compared to other doctors with the same type of medical training and skills. For example, if you are a thirty-year-old woman who runs marathons and you tell your doctor you have chest pains, the actions your general practitioner doctor takes will be compared with what other general practitioners would have done if a thirty-year-old female marathon runner came in complaining of chest pains. If a jury finds that your doctor did not act with the same level of care that other doctors would have used in a similar situation, the jury will find that your doctor committed malpractice. What were the circumstances surrounding your illness or injury? How did your doctor treat it? What did your doctor tell you about your treatment? Did you follow your doctor’s instructions? What ha
