Medical judicial expertise: the real decision-maker in Chinese medical dispute litigation

Abstract

Purpose

This article attempts to contribute to medical dispute resolution by examining the adoption of medical judicial expertise opinions in determining medical malpractice responsibility and its coordination with the judge’s legal opinions.

Design/methodology/approach

This article examines the legal basis and empirical data to demonstrate the decisive effect of medical judicial experts’ opinions in allocating medical malpractice responsibility and corresponding dispute resolution effectiveness.

Findings

High reliance on medical judicial expertise in medical dispute litigation not only unifies the judicial standards but also limits judges’ discretion, which brings the risk of contradiction between factual and legal findings, which currently ends in judges’ compromise.

Originality/value

The current medical malpractice provisions neglect the divergence of medical judicial expertise and judges’ opinions in determining medical malpractice responsibility, which produces difficulties in harmonizing awarded compensations and parties’ expectations, leading to problematic medical dispute litigation in Mainland China.

Citation

Chen, M. (2024), "Medical judicial expertise: the real decision-maker in Chinese medical dispute litigation", International Journal of Health Governance, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHG-09-2024-0111