Standard of care analysis establishes whether a healthcare provider's conduct met the accepted standard of practice for the specialty at the time and place of treatment. It is the threshold opinion in medical malpractice litigation and requires a qualified physician expert.
Standard of care is the degree of skill and care that a reasonable practitioner in the same specialty would apply in the same or similar circumstances. The analysis is jurisdiction-specific (some states use a national standard, others a locality rule) (Moffett & Moore, 2011).
A physician expert, typically board-certified in the relevant specialty (American Board of Medical Specialties, n.d.), provides the standard of care opinion. Expert qualifications are often specified by state law, and many states require the expert to practice in the same specialty as the defendant provider.
Standard of care and causation opinions set the framework for the damages experts who follow. Once a breach and its consequences are established, the life care planner projects the future care the injury will require, a medical cost projection may quantify a narrower set of needs, and an economist reduces those costs to present value. The life care planner does not opine on whether the standard of care was met; the plan takes the causation opinion as its starting point and documents the care that flows from the injury at issue.
Generally no, and many states have statutes requiring same-specialty standard of care experts.