Legal Standard of Care, Part 2

Legislation and Standard of Care

            Another example of legislative language describing standard of care can be defined as the “degree of care and skill of the average CNM, taking into account the medical/midwifery knowledge available to her based on customary practices of the average CNM”. It is obvious that statutory legal terms exist to be argued about in court.  A CNM provider will never hear this language in any graduate school midwifery classroom or labor and delivery unit.  Certified Nurse-Midwives do not acquire knowledge of the science, skills, ethics, and competencies of midwifery based on legislative standards. “Available knowledge” for a CNM/CM will be based on her education from an accredited midwifery education program.

       An additional example of statutory language and one of my favorites:

“That degree of care or competence that a reasonably competent midwifery professional practicing in the same field as the defendant and in the same area as the defendant would do under the circumstances that defendant was facing with respect to the care and treatment of the patient”. Whew.

     Based on this legislative language, establishing whether the applicable legal requirements are met in court will require the testimony of exceedingly focused and good-humored expert witnesses, retained by both plaintiff(s) and defendant(s). The prospective experts selected for this challenging task will be required to argue whether a defendant care provider complied with, or breached, the standard.

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