Law:

Section:

(a) Negligence--- ----Duty of care---Doctor-patient relationship---Duty of care owed by a doctor to disclose 'material' risks involved in treatment of a patient---Scope---"Bolam test", concept and applicability of---Entitlement of a patient to know the risks involved in his/her treatment---Non-disclosure of risks by the doctor---Question as to whether a doctor's omission to warn a patient of inherent risks of proposed treatment constituted a breach of the duty of care---Appellant-mother gave birth to a baby, who was born with severe disabilities due to complications during the delivery---Appellant's pregnancy was regarded as high risk as she suffered from diabetes, and women with diabetes were more likely to have large babies and there was a 9-10% risk of shoulder dystocia during vaginal delivery (the baby's shoulders being too wide to pass through the mother's pelvis)---Though such risk may be resolved by emergency procedures during labour, shoulder dystocia posed various health risks to the woman and baby---Appellant was not told by her doctor about the risk of shoulder dystocia during her delivery---Appellant sought damages on behalf of her baby for the injuries which he sustained during birth---Appellant attributed those injuries to negligence on the part of the medical board's doctor, who was responsible for appellant's care during her pregnancy and labour, and who also delivered the baby---Appellant's claim was that she ought to have been given advice about the risk of shoulder dystocia which would be involved in vaginal birth, and of the alternative possibility of delivery by elective caesarean section; that the doctor had negligently failed to perform a caesarean section in response to abnormalities indicated by certain tests performed on her---Doctor in her defence contended that despite the risk of shoulder dystocia, her practice was not to spend a lot of time, or indeed any time at all, discussing potential risks of shoulder dystocia, because, in her estimation, the risk of a grave problem for the baby resulting from shoulder dystocia was very small; that in her consideration if such condition was mentioned to expecting women, most women would rather…