For many years in New York medical malpractice trials, the error in judgment charge was given as a standard part of the jury charge, incorporated into Pattern Jury Instruction 2:150, the very definition of medical malpractice. The widely accepted concept is that where a physician has exercised professional judgment by selecting one of the alternative courses available within the standard of care, that judgment should be protected from second-guessing in the event that the patient does not obtain the desired outcome.