(4)“两种流派”原则的效果
从性质或法律效果上讲,“两种流派”原则给被告医生提供的是一种绝对抗辩(absolute defense)。根据宾州最高法院的判决意见,如果被告医生已提供了专家证言证明了其所选用的疗法有一定数量和质量上的支持,陪审团可以根据“两种流派”原则决定是否存在合乎法律规定的不同流派。如果存在不同流派从而“两种流派”原则得以适用,被告医生将不受法律追究。
3、衍生规则
“合理医生”标准是判定医疗过失的基本标准。这一标准通过Bolam测试标准和“两种流派”原则表达了出来。英联邦法中的Bolam测试标准和美国法中的“两种流派”原则有异曲同工之妙,二者表达的都是在医疗过失认定上司法者对医疗行业观点有条件的尊重。上述原则有以下几个规则作为支持和维护:
(1)“结果不保证”规则。法律只要求医生行使合理的注意,而不会苛刻地要求他们实现完美无暇。在考察医生行为时,不能以治疗结果来定性。[55] 对于过失的认定,不能建立在治疗结果之上。[56] “医生不是患者健康的保险者。”[57] 医生不能仅因为不幸结果(adverse outcome)的发生就去承担责任。[58] “结果不保证”原则背后的潜台词是,医疗侵权责任仍只是过错责任,而不是严格责任。[59] 医生是否行使了合理的注意(即是否有过失)是问题的中心,而不是医疗结果。
(2)“避免后见之明”规则。 与“结果不保证”原则有些关联的是“避免后见之明”原则,因为对医生之完美的要求往往是基于“事后诸葛”或“后见之明”(hindsight),是基于后来发展起来的智慧。对此,法律往往会做出警示:对医学判断的审视只能基于医疗行为发生时的医学知识,而不能基于后来发展起来的知识和信息,[60] 也不能使用“后见之明”所促成的完美眼光去审视医生当时的行为。[61]
(3)“区分判断错误与过失”规则。为了强化不能以不良结果之发生来定性医生行为和医生有权基于医学判断在不同流派中做出选择这些观念,英美法系国家的法律又推出了“区分判断错误与过失”规则。该规则认为,尽管“判断错误(error in judgment)”和“过失(negligence)”这两个概念间有重迭,但两个概念间不能划等号。“判断错误”可能是过失,但并不必然是过失。如果医生已行使了合理的注意,不构成过失的“判断错误”可形成一种抗辩。[62] 法律并不会去谴责医生所实施的真诚的医学判断,尽管该判断后来发现是错误的。
上述衍生规则强化了以下信息:(1)“合理医生”这一同行业标准要求法官要尊重医疗同行从业者基于专业知识所做出的医学判断。(2)基于医学的不确定性、复杂性和不可预知,尽管行使了合理注意,医生所做出的专业判断可能还是错误的;尽管尽了注意义务,不良结果也可能发生。在此方面,法律不允许用后来知识所形成的完美尺度去衡量医疗从业者当时的行为。(3)医疗侵权责任仍是过失责任,过失的认定仍是看是否行使了应有的合理注意,不良结果发生和专业判断后来发现错误均不是认定过失的标准。
【作者简介】
赵西巨,单位为山东中医药大学人文社科学院。
【注释】参见赵西巨:《医事法研究》,北京:法律出版社,2008年版,第235-246页。
参见赵西巨:《医事法研究》,北京:法律出版社,2008年版,第258-262页。
Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee 2 All ER 118, 1 WLR 582.
Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee 1 WLR 582, 586, McNair J.
Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee 2 All ER 118, 122.
Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee 1 WLR 582, 587, McNair J.
Bolitho v City and Hackney HA AC 232 (HL).
Sidaway v Governors of the Bethlem Royal Hospital AC 871 (HL), at 881, per Lord Scarman. 此案涉及Bolam测试标准在知情同意案件(而非传统的诊断与治疗案件)中的适用。
Bolitho v City and Hackney HA AC 232 (HL); 4 All ER 771.
对此,Slynn、Nolan、Hoffmann和Clyde法律议员持同意意见。
Bolitho v City and Hackney HA 4 All ER 771, 778-779.
Honisz v. Lothian Health Board & Ors ScotCS CSOH_24, at , per Lord Hodge. 此类规则得到了其它案件的援引,比如, Lowe v. Yorkhill NHS Trust ScotCS CSOH_111, at ; Dineley V. Lothian Health Board ScotCS CSOH_154, at ; Scott v Lothian University Hospitals NHS Trust ScotCS CSOH_92, at ; McEwan v Ayrshire & Arran Acute Hospitals NHS Trust ScotCS CSOH_22, at ; McColm v. Borders General Hospital NHS Trust ScotSC 59, at .
Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld), s 22(1) (2) (3) (4). 在其它州,类似条款有:Civil Liability Act 2002 (Tas), s 22; Civil Liability Act 2002 (WA), s 5PB; Civil Liability Act 1936 (SA), s 41; Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW), s 5O.
Dobler v Halverson (2007) 70 NSWLR 151, 167, at .
Dobler v Halverson (2007) 70 NSWLR 151, 167, at .
Dobler v Halverson (2007) 70 NSWLR 151, 167, at .
Dobler v Halverson (2007) 70 NSWLR 151, 167, at .
Dobler v Halverson (2007) 70 NSWLR 151, 167, at .
Jones v. Chidester, 610 A.2d 964, 965 (Pa.,1992).
Jones v. Chidester, 610 A.2d 964, 969 (Pa.,1992).
Remley v. Plummer, 79 Pa.Super. 117 (Pa.Super. 1922).
Remley v. Plummer, 79 Pa.Super. 117, 121-123 (Pa.Super. 1922).
Remley v. Plummer, 79 Pa.Super. 117, 121-123 (Pa.Super. 1922).
Remley v. Plummer, 79 Pa.Super. 117, 121-123 (Pa.Super. 1922).
Remley v. Plummer, 79 Pa.Super. 117, 121-123 (Pa.Super. 1922).
Tobash v. Jones, 419 Pa. 205, 213 A.2d 588 (Pa. 1965); Trent v. Trotman, 508 A.2d 580 (Pa.Super., 1986); Levine v. Rosen, 575 A.2d 579 (Pa.Super., 1990).
Furey v. Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, 325 Pa.Super. 212, 224, 472 A.2d 1083, 1089 (Pa.Super.,1984) (emphasis added) (引用了 Brannan v. Lankenau Hospital, 490 Pa. 588, 417 A.2d 196 (Pa., 1980); Tobash v. Jones, 419 Pa. 205, 213 A.2d 588 (Pa., 1965)) (涉及到手术治疗与非手术治疗的选择).
Duckworth v. Bennett, 320 Pa. 47, 51, 181 A. 558, 559 (Pa. 1935).
Brannan v. Lankenau Hospital, 490 Pa. 588, 598, 417 A.2d 196, 201 (Pa., 1980).
Jones v. Chidester, 610 A.2d 964 (Pa.,1992).
Jones v. Chidester, 610 A.2d 964, 969 (Pa.,1992).
Jones v. Chidester, 610 A.2d 964, 969 (Pa., 1992).
Jones v. Chidester, 610 A.2d 964, 969 (Pa., 1992).
Jones v. Chidester, 610 A.2d 964, 969 (Pa., 1992).
Jones v. Chidester, 610 A.2d 964, 969 (Pa., 1992). 但是,在本案中,Zappala不同意上述做法。在该法官看来,是否存在两种流派是一法律问题,应由法官来决定,而非事实问题。 参见, Jones v. Chidester, 610 A.2d 964, 970 (Pa., 1992).
Furey v. Thomas Jefferson University Hosp., 472 A.2d 1083, 1089 (Pa.Super.,1984).
Bonavitacola v. Cluver, 619 A.2d 1363 (Pa.Super.,1993).
Choma v. Iyer, 871 A.2d 238, 242-43 and 245 (Pa.Super., 2005); D''Angelis v. Zakuto, 383 Pa.Super. 65, 556 A.2d 431 (1989); Bonavitacola v. Cluver, 422 Pa.Super. 556, 619 A.2d 1363 (1993).
Gala v. Hamilton, 715 A.2d 1108 (Pa.,1998).
Gala v. Hamilton, 715 A.2d 1108, 1111 (Pa.,1998).
Gala v. Hamilton, 715 A.2d 1108, 1111 (Pa.,1998).
Gala v. Hamilton, 715 A.2d 1108, 1115-1116 (Pa.,1998) (Nigro J. dissenting).
Gala v. Hamilton, 715 A.2d 1108, 1116 (Pa.,1998) (Nigro J. dissenting).
Renk v. HealtAmerica Corp. of Pa., 50 Pa. D. & C.4th 103, 117 (Pa.Com.Pl. 2000).
Neilson v. Ruoti, 45 Pa. D. & C.4th 518 (Pa.Com.Pl. 1999).
Colangeli v. Pallone, 63 Pa. D. & C.4th 386 (Pa.Com.Pl. 2003).
Colangeli v. Pallone, 63 Pa. D. & C.4th 386, 393 (Pa.Com.Pl. 2003).
Choma v. Iyer, 871 A.2d 238, 241 (Pa.Super., 2005).
Colangeli v. Pallone, 63 Pa. D. & C.4th 386, 390 (Pa.Com.Pl. 2003).
Neilson v. Ruoti, 45 Pa. D. & C.4th 518, 522 (Pa.Com.Pl. 1999).
Furey v. Thomas Jefferson University Hosp., 472 A.2d 1083, 1091 (Pa.Super.,1984).
Gala v. Hamilton, 715 A.2d 1108,1115 (Pa.,1998) (Nigro, Justice, dissenting).
Choma v. Iyer, 871 A.2d 238, 246 (Pa.Super., 2005) (Lally-Green J. (concurring)).
Michael Kowalski “Applying the ‘Two Schools of Thought’ Doctrine to the Repressed Memory Controversy” (1998) 19 J. Legal Med. 503, 512.
Pelletier v. Stewart, 2005 ABQB 484, at .
Pelletier v. Stewart, 2005 ABQB 484, at .
McHugh v. Audet, 72 F. Supp. 394, 400 (D.C.PA. 1947).
Joseph H. King, Jr. “Reconciling the Exercise of Judgment and the Objective Standard of Care in Medical Malpractice” (1999) 52 Okla. L. Rev. 49, 57.
Joseph H. King, Jr. “Reconciling the Exercise of Judgment and the Objective Standard of Care in Medical Malpractice” (1999) 52 Okla. L. Rev. 49, 57.
Bethea v. Coralli, 546 S.E.2d 542, 544 (Ga.App., 2001) (citing Horton v. Eaton, 215 Ga.App. 803, 807(4), 452 S.E.2d 541 (1994)).
Lapointe v. H?pital LeGardeur(1992), 90 D.L.R.(4th) 7, 14.
Pelletier v. Stewart, 2005 ABQB 484, at .