医疗过失是医疗事故赔偿责任成立的一项关键要件。由于医疗事故案件的案情纷繁且涉及复杂的医学专业知识, 如何判定医疗机构或医务人员的过失成为法院必须面对的棘手问题。本文围绕香港法律中医疗事故的过失判定问题, 考察其医疗过失的标准、医疗过失的一般判定方法和特殊判定方法(即鲍勒姆判定方法)和与医疗过失证明相关的事实自证法则, 以期为我国的司法实务和学理发展提供比较法意义上的参考。

Breach of duty of care is a vital requirement for establishment of medical negligence liability. Given that medical negligence cases involve various facts and complex medical knowledge, it becomes an intractable task for the court to determine whether the medical institution or the medical professional in question has breached duty of care. This article focuses on legal rules of breach of duty in medical negligence law of Hong Kong. It first examines the standard of care in medical negligence, then analyses the general test and the special test, i.e. Bolam test, to determine breach of duty. Finally it discusses the principle of res ipsa loquitur regarding proving breach of duty in medical negligence. This article is expected to provide a useful comparative reference for China’s judicial practice and academic development in the field of medical negligence