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Rick Kellerman, MD
Salina, Kan

JAMA. 1996;276(6):450.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—Several years ago I asked an administrator of our state malpractice insurance fund to define "standard of care." He said that he had come to the conclusion that there was no standard of care. I didn't understand his comment until I read "Standards of Care" by Dr Argy.¹ There is no one standard, there are several.

I would propose a standard not mentioned in the article: the patient's standard of care. This is the standard expected of me, the physician, by the patient. It is the standard by which the patient judges my care as a physician. Indeed, there have been instances when I did not meet the other standards of care defined by Argy, including the personal, practical, and, if challenged, medicolegal standards, but I met the standard set by the patient. It is the implied standard I've met when the patient compliments my care; . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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