... professional opinion. The use of these adjectives responsible, reasonable and respectable all show that the court has to be satisfied that the exponents of the body of opinion relied upon can demonstrate that such opinion has a logical basis. In particular in cases involving, as they so often do, the weighing of risks against benefits, the judge before accepting a body of opinion as being responsible, reasonable or respectable, will need to be satisfied that, in forming their views, the experts have directed their minds to the question of comparative risks and benefits~ and have reached a defensible conclusion on the matter.' 2. However, where there is a body of medical opinion which represents itself as "reasonable", "responsible" or "respectable" it will be rare for the court to be able to hold such opinion to be other than represented. Lord Browne-Wilkinson said: '....in the cases of diagnosis and treatment there ...

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