Medical negligence - the Bolitho case

The case of Bolitho v. City and Hackney Health Authority [1997] 4 All ER 771 is a test applied in medical negligence lawsuits.

The Singapore Court of Appeal, Singapore's highest court, in Dr James Khoo v Gunapathy [2002] 2 SLR 414; [2002] SGCA 25, accepted the Bolam test (please see a previous post) as modified by the Bolitho case.

The qualification added by the Bolitho case is the practice accepted by a responsible body of medical men must be logical. If there is no logical basis for the practice, then the practice will not be defensible in court. This is the limited extent to which the courts will examine medical procedures.