What is the standard of disclosure required by a surgeon to obtain consent from a patient?

Ontario, Canada


The following excerpt is from Fisico v. Boudakian, 2003 CanLII 16146 (ON SC):

As was stated in Reibl v. Hughes, 1980 CanLII 23 (SCC), [1980] 2 S.C.R. 880 at 884-885: In summary, the decided cases appear to indicate that, in obtaining the consent of a patient for the performance upon him of a surgical operation, a surgeon, generally, should answer any specific questions posed by the patient as to the risks involved and should, without being questioned, disclose to him the nature of the proposed operation, its gravity, and material risks and any special or unusual risks attendant upon the performance of the operation. However, having said that, it should be added that the scope of the duty of disclosure and whether or not it has been breached are matters which must be decided in relation to the circumstances of each particular case. … even if a certain risk is a mere possibility which ordinarily need not be disclosed, yet if its occurrence carries serious consequences, as for example, paralysis or even death, it should be regarded as a material risk requiring disclosure.

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