What is the standard of care in a medical negligence action?

The standard of care in a medical negligence action is well established. The standard requires a physician to exercise the degree of skill and care expected of a prudent and diligent physician in the same group as the defendant in the same circumstances. In Wilson v. Swanson, 1956 CanLII 1 (SCC), [1956] S.C.R. 804 at page 817, Abbott J. described the standard as follows: The test of reasonable care applies in medical malpractice cases as in other cases of alleged negligence. As has been said in the United States, the medical man must possess and use that reasonable degree of learning and skill ordinarily possessed by practitioners in similar communities in similar cases, and it is the duty of a specialist such as appellant, who holds himself out as possessing special skill and knowledge, to have and exercise the degree of skill of an average specialist in his field.