Did your consultant tell you about all of the alternative treatments, or just the ones that they wanted you to hear about?
The case of Montgomery (Appellant) v Lanarkshire Health Board has set a new standard in relation to information that clinicians need to make you aware of before treating you.
In this case, a diabetic mum to be was not given enough information about the type of birth that she wanted for her child. The Court was asked to consider whether she should have been told of all of the options, or just those that the Consultant believed were appropriate.
The Court held that a patient is entitled to know all of the options available to her and that she should have been provided with more information to enable her to give a true informed consent. The Court said that the information that was needed was all the material information to enable a patient to make a decision.
The clinician in the Montgomery Case said that had he advised as was being suggested by the claimant that all diabetic mums would want a caesarean and that it was “not in the maternal interest of women to have caesareans”
It is refreshing to learn that Consultants know what is best for us!