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Can liability rules keep pace with best practice? The case of multidisciplinary cancer care

David M Studdert
Med J Aust 2008; 188 (7): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2008.tb01677.x
Published online: 7 April 2008

The main objectives of medical negligence law relate to substandard care — the direction the law will take when new treatment approaches come along is not always clear

If two heads are better than one, then four should be much better, and six should be truly formidable. The axiom is especially likely to hold true when the problem at hand is multifaceted, and each head carries knowledge that is relevant, different, and complementary. Therein lies the allure of multidis-ciplinary care (MDC) teams in cancer care.


  • Faculty of Law and Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC.


Correspondence: d.studdert@unimelb.edu.au

Acknowledgements: 

I thank Harold Luntz and Paul Nisselle for helpful comments on an earlier draft.

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