A new legal standard for medical malpractice in the USA (26 February 2025)

Summary

Doctors in the US report fear of liability risk and the need to practice “defensive medicine.” In 2024, the American Law Institute revised the legal standard for assessing medical negligence. Understanding the implications of this change is crucial for balancing patient safety, doctor autonomy and the legal system’s role in health care.

This JAMA article examines the new standard of care, seeing it as a shift away from strict reliance on medical custom as it invites courts to incorporate evidence-based medicine into malpractice law. Although states may adopt the recommendations from the American Law Institute at different times and to varying degrees, the restatement offers healthcare professionals and the organisations in which they practice an opportunity to reconsider how medical negligence will be assessed, and to focus more directly on promoting patient safety and improving care delivery. Nonetheless, doctors should recognise that, at least for now, many courts will continue to rely significantly on prevailing practice in assessing medical liability.