Keywords
duty of care
medical law
medical professionals
civil liability
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Abstract
There is a lack of publications in Polish scholarly literature that draw attention to solutions concerning the medical standards of care applied in other countries. Such publications could serve as inspiration for interpreting the significance of medical standards in Poland, as well as for drafting relevant legislation. This would be facilitated by the fact that the issue of these standards is universal, and their significance is widely recognized. The article aims to investigate the concept of medical standards, the entity creating them, the process of their creation, their place within the common law system, and the impact of the guidelines on the judicial practice in England and Wales. The article uses a dogmatic legal method. A comparative method was also used to make comments on other legal systems in order to highlight the specific nature of the regulations in question. The study showed that English standard-setting procedures are transparent. They also ensure the participation of society. England and Wales implement a structured, monocentric system for setting standards of medical practice. Standards developed by expert teams are based on the evidence-based medicine, which eliminates the subjective beliefs of medical authorities. Standards are less frequently called into question in court proceedings. This is a significant convenience for the medical professional community, as it provides them with a basic source of guidance on the proper approach to specific clinical cases. At the same time, it increases the stability and predictability of court rulings.
Funding
This paper was created under the National Science Centre (Poland) project no. 2021/41/B/HS5/04277.
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