Navigating Consent in Clinical Negligence Claims

Introduction

The issue of consent has been at the centre of many clinical negligence cases. This webinar will explore what constitutes valid consent and how breaches of duty may be established. It will also address causation, including the challenging question of whether a patient would have opted for the same treatment if given different information about the clinical risks. The role and nature of expert evidence in proving or defending liability will be discussed, with a focus on recent case law in this evolving area.

This webinar is for those involved in bringing or defending clinical negligence cases.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• The evidence of fact required to establish a consent case
• The legal requirements for a proper consenting process with reference to recent case law
• Use of expert evidence to support allegations of breach of duty
• The separate problem of causation which arises if breach of duty is established
• Factual and expert evidence necessary to prove causation
• The circumstances in which the consent issue may be appropriately dealt with as a preliminary issue
• Quantification of consent claims. The particular problems of establishing loss and evaluation of the result which would have been obtained with appropriate care