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Localized Pain

By Tresa Baldas
September 27, 2007

A movement is slowly building to abolish century-old medical malpractice laws that judge a doctors' performance by the medical standards existing in his or her community. Those laws, known as 'locality rules,' are still on the books in 21 states. They were originally designed to protect rural doctors who lacked access to medicines and training available in big cities. But plaintiffs' lawyers, courts, medical professionals and a handful of legislators are calling for the laws' demise, arguing that in the present day, all doctors ' regardless of where they live and practice ' have equal access to quality training and the latest medicines, and should therefore be held to the same standards.

Two Sides

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