The Institute for European Tort Law
Vienna, Austria
The English Common Law has long adopted an indulgent and protective
view towards the liability of medical practitioners. In particular, the
disclosure of risks was long regarded as a clinical matter and so
practitioners were permitted a wide degree of discretion. In March 2015
the United Kingdom Supreme Court overturned 35 years of authority and
declared a new basis for liability flowing from the failure to declare a
known risk to a patient. This talk will critically examine that process
and situate the new law within the existing structures of the common
law.