To review recent court decisions affecting health care practitioners in diverse settings.  To detail the evolution of the applicable standard of care with regard to Cesarean delivery and discuss its present status.  To familiarize medical professionals with the rules and requirements for providing expert witness testimony.  To highlight the current malpractice climate in orthopaedic surgery and discuss various strategies to limit liability risk.  To explore the present and future role of physician-patient email and its legal and ethical implications.  To review liability parameters for care given by EMS Field Providers.

Views expressed in this course are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, the military services, or the Department of Defense.  Legal Medicine offers medicolegal education for health care providers and does not establish policy or define a standard of care.  This course gives no specific recommendations concerning patient diagnosis or treatment, but instead is designed to highlight problem areas of liability in medical practice and facilitate risk management efforts.  If legal advice is required, it should be obtained from appropriate military or other federal legal counsel or from a civilian professional for non-federal physicians.