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Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee 1 WLR 582 is an English tort law case that lays down the typical rule for assessing the appropriate standard of reasonable care in negligence cases involving skilled professionals such as doctors. The medical profession has for a long time been a petri dish for paternalistic practices and attitudes. In Foo Fio Na v. Dr. Soo Fook Mun [2007] 1 M.L.J. Request Permissions. With a personal account, you can read up to 100 articles each month for free. It was generally known as the Bolam Test. A contentious issue in the law of medical negligence in Malaysia is the standard of care that is expected of doctors in the spheres of diagnosis and treatment. Singapore Journal of Legal Studies 593 ('Foo Fio Na'), the Federal Court of Malaysia rejected the Bolam test in duty of disclosure of risks cases and endorsed the patient-centered approach in Rogers v. Whitaker (1992) 175 C.L.R. Using the words of McNair J, conveniently referred to as the Bolam Test [3], ... (1982) MLJ and Elizabeth Choo v Government of Malaysia (1968) 2 MLJ 271. This also serves as a check-and-balance over the medical profession to ensure the patient’s rights are always well-protected. Indicative of a paternalistic demeanour, Bolam, prima facie appears to have shackled and bound the judiciary from competently inquiring and dissecting medical testimony and opinion. The turning point in Malaysia’s legal stand pertaining to medical negligence was established when the Whitaker test was first applied in Malaysia in Kamalam a/p Raman & Ors v Eastern Plantation Agency & Anor, 21 in which Richard Talalla J departed from the Bolam test and held that a judge is not bound by the Bolam principle, and instead adopted the test in Rogers v Whitaker. In Bolam, the plaintiff, John Bolam, was a psychiatric patient suffering depressive illness. The determination of the standards of care in this case shifted from being determined by the body of medical professionals themselves to one of judicial determination. 479 {'Rogers'). These two conflicting tests were considered in Malaysia in the Federal Court case of Foo Fio Na v. Dr Soo Fook Mun & Anor in which the court had to determine which of the two tests were to apply in Malaysian medical negligence cases. 4)IMPLICATION TO HEALTH CARE IN MALAYSIA & PROPOSAL FOR REFORM. THE MODIFIED MONTGOMERY TEST. Bolam Rules in Singapore and Malaysia – Revisited The classic Bolam test for medical negligence, controversial for its doctor-centric approach, has long been under attack when applied to a particular aspect of the doctor’s duty, namely the duty to inform. Yet, each case is very different from the next as there are too many variables to take into account. Keywords: Bolam test, expert evidence, medical negligence, litigation, doctors, course of treatment, diagnosis INTRODUCTION In medical negligence litigation, a key step is for the claimant to prove the doctor failed to meet the required standard of care. JSTOR®, the JSTOR logo, JPASS®, Artstor®, Reveal Digital™ and ITHAKA® are registered trademarks of ITHAKA. Nonetheless, both the body of medical professionals and the courts have their individual roles to play and work. According to the Bolam test, laid down in the case of Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee ... Other jurisdictions such as Australia 16 and Malaysia 17 have also adopted a ‘prudent patient’ approach to risk disclosure. Swoboda has described ‘The deep ossification of the Bolam test in the common law’. The Bolam test became the applicable law in relation to medical negligence following Chin Keow v Government of the Federation of Malaya. Prior to 29/12/06 the test for medical negligence accepted by the Courts in Malaysia was generally known as the Bolam Test or the BolamPrinciple. In 2006 the highest Malaysian court, the Federal Court, held in Foo Fio Na v Dr Soo Fook Mun [2007] 1 MLJ 593 (hereafter Foo Fio Na) that the Bolam test is not relevant in ‘all aspects of medical negligence cases.’. Singapore, as an independent legal system founded on the English legal system, continues to draw guidance from the common law authorities of leading Commonwealth countries, including England, Australia and Canada, and sometimes, the USA.The Journal publishes articles on private and public international law as well as comparative law. This is where the Bolam Test comes in, and is used as a standard to determine if the a patient has been mistreated or not. [Bolam], This test is two-fold: first, in determining the standard of care to be followed by medical practitioners, "the test is the standard of the ordinary skilled man exercising and professing to have that special skill", and second, the medical practitioner "is not guilty of negligence if he has acted The HC rejected the Bolam test. 23. This thesis traces the historical development of the law in Malaysia, from the application of the original English Bolam test in the 1960s to the current legal position as decided by the highest Malaysian court decision in Foo Fio Na v Dr Soo Fook Mun (2007) 1 MLJ 593. This rule is known as the Bolam test, and states that if a doctor reaches the standard of a responsible body of medical opinion, they are not negligent. Prior to 29/12/06 the test for medical negligence accepted by the Courts in Malaysia was generally known as the Bolam Test or the Bolam Principle. Abstract. The Bolam test became the applicable law in relation to medical negligence following Chin Keow v Government of the Federation of Malaya. Using the words of McNair J, conveniently referred to as the Bolam Test, "The test is the standard of the ordinarily skilled man exercising and professing to have that special skill." What ought to be done became, by default, what reasonable doctors would ordinarily do. The Singapore Journal of Legal Studies has been in continuous publication since 1959 and is a faculty managed publication. The penalty for ill-treating a patient is a fine or up to RM10,000 and/or up to 2 years of jail. The question then is, with medicine being so technical and specialised, who sets or determines these standards of care? III. Affirming the demise of the antiquated Bolam-Bolitho test in relation to pre-treatment advice, this decision also adds Singapore to a growing list of countries which have embraced the concept of patient autonomy. It takes a cross-jurisdictional approach to examine the corresponding legal development in the United Kingdom, Singapore and the Australian states. All Rights Reserved. Relying on that direction which is now accepted as the Bolam test or Bolam principle and the divergent medical evidence, the jury found that the hospital was not … It was a small risk but if it was materialised, could be severe in nature. test in Malaysia, there is still room for . This too was the test for the standard of care for medical negligence cases in Malaysia. This test was applied to determine the doctor's standard of care in relation to the treatment and information given to the patient. application of the original English Bolam test in the 1960s to the current legal position as decided by the highest Malaysian court decision in Foo Fio Na v Dr Soo Fook Mun (2007) 1 MLJ 593. The recent Court of Appeal decision in Hii Chii Kok v Ooi Peng Jin London Lucien (“Hii Chii Kok”) has been a long time coming. The doctor’s judgment is not to be questioned. This legal conundrum was put to rest in the case of Zulhasnimar Hasan Basri & Anor v. Dr Kuppu Velumani P & Ors in which the Federal Court made a distinction between diagnosis and treatment, and the disclosure of risks. The test is derived from the case of Bolam v. Friern Hospital Management Committee (1957) . A contentious issue in the law of medical negligence in Malaysia is the standard of care that is expected of doctors in the spheres of diagnosis and treatment. 13. In other words, the Australian courts held that the Bolam Test did not apply to the disclosure of risks to patients. improvement especially regarding the . Simply put, the Bolam Test was essentially that the body of professionals themselves were the best people to determine the standard of care. The Bolam test was deemed to confer undue deference to the medical profession due to the courts’ reluctance to define the term, ‘a responsible body of medical opinion’. Such is the position of law today. Reading Time: 9 minutes Introduction. The Bolam Test alluded to earlier could well work against a well-meaning engineer who fails to keep abreast with changes in his profession. Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee: QBD 1957. The Bolam-Bolitho test was retained for diagnosis and treatment. The Bolam Test in Malaysia 48. The Bolam Test alluded to earlier could well work against a well-meaning engineer who fails to keep abreast with changes in his profession. CONTENTS 24. The orthodox test for medical negligence, enshrined in the Bolam decision, has the potential to be unduly favourable to the medical practitioner. Hence, the standard of care for such disclosure is one that is determinable objectively by the courts. In Bolam v. Friern Hospital Management Committee, the test is originally used to determine medical negligence. Plaintiff underwent operation and there was a risk. (McNair J.) 11 Brazier and Miola refer to a process of ‘Bolamisation ’ 12 whereby the courts abrogated responsibility for ethical issues and lacunae in the law into the hands of doctors. In this case, the High Court of Australia rejected the Bolam test. The law should recognise the duty of the doctor disclosing the risk to a patient and should not be discarded as it might have if the Bolam test was applied here. This test was applied to determine the doctor’s standard of care in relation to the treatment and information given to the patient. Before Bolitho case, the first dent to the Bolam’s test was a dissenting judgment by Lord Scarman in the case of Sideway v Bethlem Royal Hospital Governors. The Journal continues to interest lawyers, academics and observers in and outside the common law world. Notwithstanding that, there has been much jurisprudence surrounding medical law – one of which is the standard of care to which we hold a medical practitioner to. Bolam was … © 1995 National University of Singapore (Faculty of Law) The test for medical negligence, set out in Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee4(“Bolam”), to be elaborated upon later, has long been criticised for perpetuating medical paternalism as courts routinely deferred to medical opinion in determining the standard of Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee (1968) 2 MLJ 271 [1967] 2 MLJ 45 The writer emphasised on the use of the intrakota bus because in Malaysia, it is the most common mode of transport as opposed to the omnibus in England. Simply put, the Bolam Test was essentially that the body of professionals themselves were the best people to determine the standard of care. The Bolam test may be a reminder of the old days of medical paternalism but it remains an enduring comparator in clinical ... Court rules on applicable test in medical negligence suits * - Malaysia. The English case, Bolam v Friern Hospital gave us the Bolam test, and the Australian case, Rogers v Whitaker, has it’s own set of criteria as well. Mason CJ, Brennan, Dawson, Toohey and McHugh JJ said. Previously, Singapore's courts had used only the oft-cited Bolam test, which states that a doctor is not negligent if his actions could be supported by other doctors. In the well-known Malaysian case of Foo Fio Na v Dr. Soo Fook Mun & Anor [2007] 1 MLJ 593, the Federal Court, on 29/12/06, in its judgement declared inter alia, that the Bolam Test which is often used as the ground in determining the standard of care in regards to matters on medical negligence in Malaysia is no longer suitable to be applied. From the above, Bolam’s test and principles were applied to all area of medical aspects such as diagnosis, treatment and advice. The "Bolam test", as it has come to be known, was approved by the Privy Council in Chin Keow v Government of Malaysia,4 Lord Edmund Davies in Whitehouse v Jordan,5 and the House of Lords in Maynard v West Midlands RH A.6 In Sidaway v Board of Governors of the Bethlem Royal Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital (a case considered in Part III) THE BOLAM PRINCIPLE The test to determine what is the standard of care demanded of a doctor was established by McNair J. in Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee, which subsequently became known as the Bolam principle. A contentious issue in the law of medical negligence in Malaysia is the standard of care that is expected of doctors in the spheres of diagnosis and treatment. … In medical negligence litigation, the 'Bolam' test is cited as the starting point. The question that arose was whether, in determining the standards of care pertaining to a medical procedure on which a judge has no expertise in, would this still be subject to judicial determination or should the right approach be the Bolam Test? The Court held the Bolam Test would apply to the former whereas judicial determination applies to the disclosure of risks, as was the test in Rogers v Whitaker. Assume for a moment that a significant number of engineers have migrated to a novel technique, leaving only a small group of engineers still adhering to an outmoded practice. In the well-known Malaysian case of Foo Fio Na v Dr. Soo Fook Mun & Anor [2007] 1 MLJ 593, the Federal Court, on 29/12/06, in its judgement declared inter alia, that the Bolam Test which is often used as the ground in determining the standard of care in regards to matters on medical negligence in Malaysia is no longer suitable to be applied. Before going into the Bolam case though, there is a little thing called “standard of care” to talk about. ©2000-2020 ITHAKA. The Bolam test which demonstrates that a medical practitioner is incapable of negligence if his actions are certified as suitable by a ‘responsible body of medical opinion’ enhances this impression. However, it is not uncommon for doctors to differ on medical diagnosis and treatments and often times, there is no saying which medical opinion is right and which is wrong. The Bolam test 1 was endorsed by the Privy Council in the case of Chiu Keow v Government of Malaysia 2 and has since been entrenched in Singapore law pertaining to medical negligence. Nonetheless, both the body of medical professionals and the courts have their individual roles to play and work in tandem with each other in order to ensure the best quality of medical care afforded by medical practitioners. 19 The test is suited for these aspects as it recognises that doctors possess expert knowledge on medical matters. The test requires doctors to conform to a 'responsible' body of medical opinion. Medicine is a science that is constantly evolving. This principle was derived from the case of Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee . The standard of care expected of a doctor By Dato’ Mah Weng Kwai. By an examination of the legal test which sets the standard of care in medical negligence cases – the so-called "Bolam test" – and its application by the courts in the resolution of three basic questions raised by the treatment of patients, this article maintains that English judges have tended to reduce questions about what the law ought to be to questions about what doctors, or a body of doctors, actually do or think. The English case, Bolam v Friern Hospital gave us the Bolam test, and the Australian case, Rogers v Whitaker, has it’s own set of criteria as well. Further, the Supreme Court recognised that lower courts had to some degree departed from the Bolam test in relation to the advice given by doctors to their patients. 479 ('Rogers'). In Malaysia, the Bolam test was first applied in 1964 by Ong J in Chin Keow v Government of the Federation of Malaya & Anor [1964] 30 MLJ 322 . This does not, however, mean that the medical profession has free rein to determine the standards of care for diagnosis and treatments at their absolute discretion. It must be noted that while the Federal Court did not reject either of the tests, the court held that the ultimate consideration has to be whether or not a doctor had acted reasonably and logically. Surgeon did not specifically inform her of this risk. Here, the patient is a passive participant that provides information and received treatment in accordance with the directions of the doctor. Held: McNair J directed the jury: ‘Where some special skill is exercised, the test for negligence is not the test of the man on the Clapham omnibus, because he has not got this special skill. In depth explanation of the case of Foo Fio Na. On 29th December 2006, the test for medical negligence had been accepted by the Courts in Malaysia . That year, a remarkable milestone was achieved in the area of Medical Negligence in Malaysia where the Federal Court in the landmark decision in Foo Fio Na v Dr. Soo Fook Mun & Anor [2007] 1 MLJ 593 (“Foo Fio Na”) ruled that the Bolam Test in Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee [1957] 2 All ER 118 is no longer a good law and further made two important rulings as … In determining the standards of care as such, it is only right that it be determined by medical professionals with the same specialisation or expertise. The doctor was entitled to inform the patient of all of the risks as any reasonable medical man would have done. (3) Practically, the Bolam test means that while the law imposes a duty of care, the standard of care owed by a doctor to a patient is left to the medical fraternity (ie, the "practice accepted as proper by a responsible body of medical men skilled in that particular art"). Ong J’s judgment was overturned by the Federal Court but was subsequently upheld by the Privy Council in Chin Keow v Government of Malaysia & Anor [1967] 2 MLJ 45 (by then the Federation of Malaya had become … Prior to 29/12/06 the test for medical negligence accepted by the Courts in Malaysia was generally known as the Bolam Test or the Bolam Principle. Assume for a moment that a significant number of engineers have migrated to a novel technique, leaving only a small … 1)INTRODUCTION, THE QUESTION & THE ISSUES. Prior to 29/12/06 the test for medical negligence accepted by the Courts in Malaysia was generally known as the Bolam Test or the BolamPrinciple. Published By: National University of Singapore (Faculty of Law), Read Online (Free) relies on page scans, which are not currently available to screen readers. Essentially, the Bolam-Bolitho test laid down a physician-centric approach, where emphasis is placed on peer review to determine whether a doctor’s conduct had fallen short of such standard. 2)BOLAM TEST, BOLITHO TEST & WHITAKER TEST. In Rogers v Whitaker, the Australian courts rejected the notion that a doctor could not be found negligent in warning a patient so long as the doctor acted within the purview of common practice. The determination of the standard of care was placed in the hands of the medical profession of the same specialisation. 3)JUDICIAL APPROACH & TREND IN MALAYSIA. This test was applied to determine the doctor’s standard of care in relation to the treatment and information given to the patient. The Bolam Test, at the end of the day, must still satisfy an additional test – it must withstand logical analysis and common sense; which again falls within the purview of the courts. For REFORM body as possible v. Friern Hospital Management Committee placed in the of... 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