ABSTRACT

We are now well into the 21^st century and the practice of medicine is almost unrecognizable from what it was a generation ago. New drugs, new surgical techniques, and new genetic technologies that aid in the diagnosis and treatment of disease are the order of the day. However, this evolving practice of medicine has been matched by a rapidly growing awareness of patient’s rights and the responsibilities of the current generation of medical practitioners towards their patients. As a result of this, the medico legal environment in the Caribbean is becoming increasingly litigious as patients are becoming more concerned about, and more educated to, their rights. This is in large part due to increasing familiarity and exposure to the Internet, as well as American cable television. Cases of medical malpractice are becoming more common in Trinidad, Jamaica, and Barbados, and it is against this backdrop that the doctrine of vicarious liability in the Caribbean requires urgent reexamination.

small numbers obtained allowed only a limited assessment of the influence of staging on the survival rates. Neither the treatment received nor the diagnostic periods had any significant influence on the survival rates. The establishment of a national cancer registry in the Bahamas would rectify the problems due to retrieval of information and aid in the better management and follow-up of cancer. Because of a relative young age at diagnosis, consideration must also be given to beginning mammography screening of Bahamian women at an age younger than 40 years.