0:01

The second element is breach.

0:02

And this is a large focus, uh, of

0:06

where these lawsuits obviously are.

0:08

And a breach is an allegation that you have violated

0:13

the standard of care.

0:14

And we'll talk about standard of care in just a second,

0:17

but basically it's at the, this is the main allegation

0:21

of the lawsuit, which simply says you

0:25

as the physician did something in caring for this patient

0:30

that did not meet the minimum required standard of care.

0:36

And now, you know, this vagues, the next question is, well,

0:39

what is the standard of care?

0:42

And the standard of care is, it's a nationwide standard.

0:46

It's a national standard. You take national board.

0:48

So it is a national standard.

0:50

And then the standard of care is basically

0:53

what any reasonable or prudent physician would do under same

0:57

or similar circumstances.

1:00

So in, in, given the situation where you're caring

1:03

for this patient, what would the,

1:06

what would be the minimum care that would be

1:08

provided by any reasonable physician?

1:10

And this is often the crux of the case.

1:12

And, and looking at, uh, this is

1:16

where we get expert witnesses.

1:18

We go into great detail.

1:20

So then the question is, well, how is the standard

1:23

of care established?

1:26

And it can be determined in a number of ways,

1:29

but it's primarily determined by the use

1:33

of expert witnesses.

1:34

And we'll have a talk on, uh, how

1:36

to be the best expert witness later.

1:38

But the, that's the main focus is

1:41

having an expert witness who's willing to come into court

1:44

and testify that yes, you as the radiologist did something

1:49

that breached or deviated from the standard of care

1:53

that then cause the, the patient harm.

1:56

There are other ways, you know, obviously we get into, well,

1:59

doctor ha, you know, you as the expert witness,

2:01

how did you determine what the minimum standard is?

2:05

And there are a lot of other resources that we can go to.

2:08

So are there guidelines?

2:11

And, and these days nobody ever writes a document that says,

2:15

well, standard of care for this is X, Y, and Z.

2:18

They're always sort of listed as guidelines

2:20

or procedures, policies that then we extrapolate, um,

2:26

as to, or, uh, get the testimony that yes,

2:28

this does in fact constitute the standard of care.

2:32

So there are different organizations, different ways.

2:35

We can go back and sometimes look at case law.

2:38

There may be documents, there may be internal policies.

2:41

And a lot of it has to do simply with the education,

2:45

training and experience of everyone involved.

2:49

And if you get to the point where you're in trial,

2:52

obviously we have situations

2:54

where the plaintiff has their expert witness or witnesses

2:58

and the defense has their expert witnesses

3:00

and it's a, essentially a battle of the experts.

3:04

Um, and this kind of sums it up.