Photo of a doctor taking the blood pressure of a pregnant woman with one hand on her stomach

Law’s Maxwell Mehlman discussed the complex legal framework of doctors attempting to give the best possible care

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PolitiFact: Maxwell Mehlman, the Arthur E. Petersilge Professor of Law, Distinguished University Professor and co-director of the Law-Medicine Center, said that a century of civil liability legislation has given doctors a legal responsibility to give the best possible care—a complex legal framework, hugely driven by the facts of each individual situation. “The doctor has a legal duty to take reasonable steps to preserve the life and health of the patient,” Mehlman said. “If they don’t, in the most egregious situations, this has led to criminal prosecutions.”