Informed Consent: II

Seven situations are described where failure to disclose risks might be justified by lack of materiality, standards of medical practice, or lack of proximate cause of the injury.

Abstract

IN THE preceding article (244:2100-2103, 1980), the nature of the doctrine of informed consent and various issues relating to the elements of a cause of action based on lack of informed consent were discussed. This article discusses various defenses to informed consent claims. DEFENSES TO INFORMED CONSENT CLAIMS There are a number of defenses to a claim of lack of informed consent. Some of these relate to the lack of materiality of the risk that was allegedly not disclosed. Others relate to standards of medical practice or to the question of proximate cause of the patient's injury. The major defenses have all been listed in a large number of cases and appear to be recognized in a large majority of jurisdictions. Unfortunately, however, the scope of the various defenses is extremely unclear, for two reasons. First, the applicability of such defenses depends primarily on the facts of the particular case. It