What is a surgeon's duty to disclose to a patient of the material risks arising from the proposed surgery?
Alberta, Canada
The following excerpt is from Nemetchek v. University of Alberta Hospital, 2000 ABQB 367 (CanLII):
A surgeon has a duty to make disclosure to the patient of the material risks arising from the proposed surgery. However, the doctor need not make full disclosure of every conceivable risk, no matter how remote; only those risks that are characterized as material, or otherwise special or unusual, are required to be disclosed. See Reibl v. Hughes 1980 CanLII 23 (SCC), [1980] 2 S.C.R. 880.
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