Major policy change

In a major change of policy, the Supreme Court in its judgement in Montgomery -v- Lanarkshire Health Board has introduced a new approach of informed patient consent for the first time in negligence law. The decision concerned a medical claim, but the principle is also likely to apply in dental cases where there is a similar obligation to obtain consent for treatment.

When discussing the benefits and risks of various treatment options with patients, the new ruling requires clinicians to consider and be aware of whether a reasonable person in the patient’s position would/should be likely to attach significance to the risk. This supersedes the previous test, applying from the cases of Bolam and Sidaway, that a clinician would not be negligent if the information given to a patient about a treatment or procedure was compatible with that which would be given by a responsible body of medical opinion, provided the standard was considered reasonable by a Court.