Bolitho Test (redirected from Bolitho Principle)

Bolitho Test

A test that modified the 1957 Bolam test, which the British courts had been using to determine medical negligence by a doctor or nurse. In Bolitho v. City and Hackney Health Authority, 1997, Lord Browne-Wilkinson restricted the boundaries of Bolam, stating, (1) 'The court should not accept a defence argument as being 'reasonable', 'respectable' or 'responsible' without first assessing whether such opinion is susceptible to logical analysis’, and (2) 'However, where there is a body of medical opinion which represents itself as 'reasonable', 'responsible' or 'respectable' it will be rare for the court to be able to hold such opinion to be other than represented’. Thus the Bolitho test requires that the medical professional who allegedly carried out the medical negligence be found to have been unreasonable