McDaniel v. Hendrix

Bell, Justice.

We granted certiorari in this case to consider two questions: First, what is the standard of care owed by a physician to a patient and how should that standard be articulated; and second, assuming a “general” rather than a “local” standard of care is controlling, did the plaintiffs’ expert, either by affidavit or deposition, testify in effect that defendants’ conduct violated a “general” as well as a “local” standard? We conclude, as has our Court of Appeals in numerous cases, that the appropriate standard of care is the general standard of care. We do not undertake to specify…