Hoagland v. Kamp

The locality rule has its roots in Pike v. Honsinger (155 NY 201), where the Court of Appeals said that a doctor is required to possess "that reasonable degree of learning and skill * * * ordinarily possessed by physicians and surgeons in the locality where he practices” (supra, at 209). It is now firmly established that "in most medical malpractice actions, a plaintiff must prove through expert medical opinion (1) the standard of care in the locality where treatment occurred, (2) that defendant breached that standard of care and (3) that the breach of the standard was the proximate cause of…