Case report: Duce v Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust [2018] EWCA Civ 1307

Limits of the duty of informed consent; breach of duty; causation ‘The confirmation of the need to satisfy the but for test is consistent with a long line of recent authority.’ In Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board [2015] it was held that the doctor must take reasonable care to ensure that a patient is aware …
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Patient Autonomy: Montgomery in action

Julian Matthews looks at recent case law on the issue of consent to medical treatment including the recent Court of Appeal decision of Webster ‘The judge had expressly found that there was an expectation that the consultant should have informed himself about the unusual combination of features and the potential risks arising from them.’Legal and …
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Treatment: Life after Montgomery

Sophie Beesley highlights the development of the ‘reasonable patient’ in recent cases concerning patient consent ‘Patients should not be bombarded with information, but helped to understand what matters or is likely to matter to them as individuals, beyond the pure percentages of risk. Dialogue is key.’ Consent to medical treatment is only valid if it …
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Case Report: Montgomery (Appellant) v Lanarkshire Health Board (Respondent) [2015] UKSC 11

Patients’ rights; doctors’ duties; consent test ‘Patients should no longer be viewed as uninformed, incapable of understanding medical matters, or wholly dependent upon a flow of information from doctors.’The appellant, Nadine Montgomery, sought damages on behalf of her catastrophically injured son, Sam, born on 1 October 1999 at Bellshill Maternity Hospital, Lanarkshire, alleging negligent care …
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Clinical Negligence: What does a clinician have to tell the patient?

Julian Matthews looks at the case law and some recent illustrations ‘The touchstone for liability in clinical negligence claims remains the Bolam test, and Chester and Birch do not warrant a wholly different approach in cases concerning advice.’ The standard of care the law requires of a doctor has become well established using the terms …
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