A defendant invokes the locality rule as justification for a lower standard of patient care. How does the locality rule support this claim?
1. The locality rule holds the professional to a standard of care in a given geographic area, rather than the national standard of care.
2. The locality rule states that hospitals in any locality must have similar brands of equipment.
3. The locality rule decreases the burden of continuing education on rural practitioners.
4. The locality rule is used in court to establish cause-in-fact, not standard of care.
1
Rationale: The locality rule attempts to hold the standard of professional care to that of other professionals practicing in the same geographic area of the country. This rule is under change, related to the ease of obtaining continuing education in all parts of the country, so rural nurses cannot claim hardship in obtaining continuing education as readily as before these technologic advances. The rule does not require that all hospitals have the same brand of equipment, or even the same quality of equipment or amount of equipment. It only requires that practitioners have the same education and exercise the same level of judgment and diligence as others across the country.
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