Should I warn the patient first?

Abstract

In 1992 the High Court of Australia decided that health professionals owed a duty of care to warn patients of the risks to the particular patient of the proposed treatment before commencing that treatment. The Court ruled that it is not enough for any health care practitioner to do what everyone else does and therefore not warn the patient first. It emphasised that the information the law requires to be provided will vary from patient to patient, according to the individual patient's characteristics and needs. The decision in Rogers v Whitaker (1992) means that heaIth professions must change their attitude and approach to the provision of information and warnings to patients.