Alef v. Alta Bates Hospital

In Alef v. Alta Bates Hospital (1992) 5 Cal.App.4th 208, the court reversed a judgment of nonsuit. The plaintiff had alleged that the nurses breached the standard of care causing injury during birth. (Alef, at p. 214.) The court explained that "a nurse's conduct must not be measured by the standard of care required of a physician or surgeon, but by that of other nurses in the same or similar locality and under similar circumstances." (Id. at p. 215.) A doctor testified as to the standard of care for a task that could be performed by either a physician or a nurse. (Ibid.) The doctor therefore was familiar with the requirements for nurses. (Ibid.)