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Supermen and exact sciences
Unless you put yourself out there as perfect, courts will typically hold you to the standard of reasonable care if you make a mistake.
W hat is an “Exact Science?” Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines “exact science” as “a science (such as physics, chemistry, or astronomy) whose laws are capable of accurate quantitative expression.” Some say that the exact sciences (also known as “hard sciences”) are those that don’t require you to figure out human psychology, that is a scientific field which deals with things that can be observed and measured. One Georgia case stated that, “Science generally means possessed of knowledge as distinguished from ignorance and specifically points to truths or laws that may be experimentally demonstrable and empirically tested.”
William Quatman
It may be easier to list those professions that courts have found not to be an exact science (i.e., an “inexact science”). In a 1985 case, the U.S. Supreme Court stated that, “Psychiatry is not, however, an exact science.” Other courts have held that medicine, law, psychology, geology, hydrology, real estate appraisal, and even taxation are not exact sciences. As one court put it: “A plaintiff must prove the defendant failed to give him, not the highest degree of care, but merely the reasonable care and skill usually possessed by physicians of the same school … A physician is not an insurer of the results of his diagnosis or procedures. He is obliged to conform to the accepted standard of reasonable care, but he is not liable for failing to exercise an extraordinary degree of care.”
That same court warned, however, that those who hold themselves to a higher standard of care might find themselves liable for breach of that higher standard. The court stated, “True, physicians too often have attempted to encourage the aurae of an infallibility they do not possess. Theirs is not an exact science, and even the very best of them can be wrong in diagnosis or procedure. … [But] members of the medical profession who have held themselves out to be supermen should not be surprised that laymen take them at their word and impose superdamages.” The court went on to explain, however, that the law “recognizes the medical profession for what it is, a class of fallible men, some of whom are unusually well-qualified
See WILLIAM QUATMAN, page 10
THE ZWEIG LETTER June 24, 2019, ISSUE 1302
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