Petty, T;
Stephenson, L;
Campbell, P;
Stephenson, T;
(2019)
Outcome Bias in Clinical Negligence Medico-legal Cases.
Journal of Law and Medicine
, 26
(4)
pp. 825-830.
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Abstract
Independent medical experts provide reports in clinical negligence claims brought against doctors and other health care professionals. They are asked to provide an opinion on whether the doctor has breached their duty of care to the patient, commonly described as the "Bolam Principle". By the time a patient litigates against a health care professional, the clinical sequence and outcome are known. Experts provide their opinions with the benefit of this knowledge. To determine whether knowledge of the outcome affects the expert's opinion, 42 independent general practice experts were asked to indicate whether a general practitioner had breached their duty of care in six clinical case scenarios. 21 were told the clinical outcome. Experts who knew the outcome were less likely to support the general practitioner's course of action, although this did not reach statistical significance. General practitioners demonstrated considerable "dove" or "hawk" variability when giving opinions on the same scenario.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Outcome Bias in Clinical Negligence Medico-legal Cases |
| Location: | Australia |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Publisher version: | http://sites.thomsonreuters.com.au/journals/2019/0... |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article was first published by Thomson Reuters in the Journal of Law and Medicine and should be cited as Petty, T; Stephenson, L; Campbell, P; Stephenson, T; (2019) Outcome Bias in Clinical Negligence Medico-legal Cases. Journal of Law and Medicine, 26 (4) pp. 825-830. // This publication is copyright. Other than for the purposes of and subject to the conditions prescribed under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), no part of it may in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, microcopying, photocopying, recording or otherwise) be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted without prior written permission. Enquiries should be addressed to Thomson Reuters (Professional) Australia Limited. PO Box 3502, Rozelle NSW 2039. legal.thomsonreuters.com.au. |
| Keywords: | claim, expert, hindsight bias, negligence, outcome, Expert Testimony, Humans, Malpractice |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10089628 |
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