I refer to the well written article ‘Doctor cleared of misconduct’ (March 31) reporting the definitive court judgment delivered in the lawsuit ‘Stephen Micallef vs Dr Ray Fenech’.

I have been asked by Fenechto expand.

This six-year long judicial process has been a traumafor Fenech.

What has to be pointed out is that, in such cases, the complainant has to factually prove the doctor’s malpractice and, thus, negligence. Without this proof the claim fails.

The second point is that not every doctor’s misdiagnosis, or other act or omission that leads to a medical mishap, necessarily amounts to responsibility on the part of the doctor.

The test is whether, according to normal medical practice(as established by qualified competent peers), a doctor would have acted (or failedto act) with the expected due diligence as a diligent competent doctor would have done, taking into consideration all obtaining circumstances.

In short, whether the act or omission would have been deemed as accepted normal medical practice.

Furthermore, one may also say that exceptional omission or action - particularly innovative - may not, by itself, necessarily lead to negligence and liability once it passes the above test.

While keeping doctors on their toes is of benefit to the public, and lawsuits can redress malpractice and help in preventing other cases, the purpose of this letter is to bring the above to the notice of the public so that they would seriously consider matters before instituting lawsuits against doctors, with the double effect of having conscientious doctors go through a trauma and of having complainants further disillusioned on the basis of false expectations.

There is no real remedyfor such a trauma, even if,technically, there is thepossibiity of legal action against blatantly capricious and/or unjustified complaints.