Sidaway v Board of Governors of the Bethlem Royal Hospital

Sidaway v. Board of Governors of the Bethlem Royal Hospital [1985] AC 871 is an important House of Lords case in English tort law concerning the duty of a surgeon to inform a patient of the risks before undergoing an operation.

Facts

The claimant suffered from pain in her neck, right shoulder, and arms. Her neurosurgeon took her consent for cervical cord decompression, but did not include in his explanation the fact that in less than 1% of the cases, the said decompression caused paraplegia. She developed paraplegia after the spinal operation.

Judgment

Rejecting her claim for damages, the court held that consent did not require an elaborate explanation of remote side effects. In dissent, Lord Scarman said that the Bolam test should not apply to the issue of informed consent and that a doctor should have a duty to tell the patient of the inherent and material risk of the treatment proposed.

See also

• Chester v. Afshar
• Negligence
• Bolam v. Friern Hospital Management Committee

Notes

English law
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