Law Commons^™

Professional Power And The Standard Of Care In Medicine, Maxwell J. Mehlman

Faculty Publications

Since before the founding of the Republic, American medicine has been fighting a war to control the standard of care that physicians are expected to provide to their patients. It has waged battles on two fronts: against internal disagreements within the profession over what constitutes proper care, and against attempts to delineate the standard of care by forces outside the profession, such as private health insurers, the government, and the judicial system.