Resolution of September 21, 2002,
passed unanimously by the assembled
House of Delegates of the
Utah Medical Association.
RESOLVED, That the Utah Medical Association adopt the
following policy statement:
THE CRIMINALIZATION OF MEDICAL PRACTICE
The Utah Medical Association opposes the criminalization of medical care and sees unfounded accusations of physicians in criminal court and the criminal trial of physicians' professional judgment and quality of practice as a serious threat to patient care in the State of Utah and an unreasonable burden on the medical profession. Although it is acknowledged that the public must be defended against criminal actions, we do not believe that the professional assessment of medical competence necessary to discriminate between medical incompetence and criminal negligence can be judged fairly and knowledgeably before a lay jury in criminal court in the manner contemplated in State v. Warden. Instead, we strongly affirm the following statement of the Kansas Court of Appeals in the public policy defining decision of State v. Narramore:
"When there is such strong evidence supporting a reasonable, noncriminal explanation for the doctor's actions, it cannot be said that there is no reasonable doubt of criminal guilt. This is particularly true in a situation as we are faced with here, where the only way the defendant's actions may be found to be criminal is through expert testimony, and that testimony is strongly controverted in every detail. ...if criminal responsibility can be assessed based solely on the opinions of a portion of the medical community which are strongly challenged by an opposing and authoritative medical consensus, we have criminalized malpractice, and even the possibility of malpractice."
Lastly, we believe that when a medical expert admonishes a prosecutor against filing a criminal complaint, it behooves the prosecutor to reconsider his position and seek the opinion of the Utah Medical Association, the Physicians Licensing Board, or some other regularly established and constituted panel of medical peers. Neither Utah's physicians nor their patients can afford this type of judicial embarrassment. It is a serious threat to good patient care for all Utah's citizens.