What is the standard of care expected of a physician?

The standard of care expected of physicians is that they “conduct their practice in accordance with the conduct of a prudent and diligent doctor in the same circumstances”. The conduct of a specialist “must be assessed in light of the conduct of other ordinary specialists, who possess a reasonable level of knowledge, competence and skill expected of professionals in Canada, in that field”. A specialist, like the defendant, “must exercise the degree of skill of an average specialist in his field”: ter Neuzen at para. 33. As stated by Madam Justice Balance at para. 274 of Chen v. Ross, 2014 BCSC 374, aff’d 2015 BCCA 250, the conduct of the doctor must be “evaluated objectively against a reasonable medical person who possesses and exercises the skill, knowledge, and judgment of the normal prudent practitioner of his or her special group, in the particular circumstances, at the material time”.