Peer Reviewed
Medicine and the Law
Informed consent: where do doctors and lawyers get their information?
Abstract
A study has shown that the NHMRC’s efforts to educate doctors about the need to inform patients are not effective, and that many doctors obtain their information about the law from professional publications and newspapers. It seems that the courts are also not hearing the NHMRC’s message.
Key Points
This month, I want to discuss another aspect of the ongoing debates about a doctor’s duty to inform. It is the more theoretical issue of how doctors find out about their legal duties and how the courts, or judges, inform themselves about opinions within the medical profession.
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