The Oregon Medical Association, along with the Litigation Center of the American Medical Association and state medical societies, is seeking to reverse an appellate court decision to no longer inform jurors of a longstanding statement regarding physician outcomes.
If the appellate decision stands, jurors would no longer be told in court that, "Physicians are not negligent merely because their efforts were unsuccessful" and that "a physician does not guarantee a good result by undertaking to perform a service," according to a Feb. 8 article on the AMA website.
The statement has been a longstanding part of the state's Uniform Civil Jury Instruction, and the organizations filed an amicus brief with the state Supreme Court in an effort to reverse the appellate decision.
"Because the practice of medicine is subject to uncertainties and risks that modern science has not eliminated and physicians are presented with an infinite combination of factors that affect medical decisions and outcomes, it is imperative that medical negligence liability remain based on legal fault, and not medical results," the amicus brief says, according to the AMA.