Elbourne v Gibbs

The case of *Elbourne v Gibbs* concerned an appeal to the New South Wales Court of Appeal regarding a doctor's alleged failure to warn a patient of material risks associated with an operation. The patient suffered injury when those risks materialised.

The central legal issues before the Court of Appeal were whether the doctor owed a duty of care to warn the patient of material risks associated with the operation, and if so, whether the failure to warn caused the patient's injury. The Court also considered whether, in the absence of a more plausible contrary inference, the plaintiff needed only to establish a prima facie case of causation.

The Court of Appeal upheld the trial judge's findings. It was held that a doctor has a duty to warn a patient of risks that a reasonable person in the patient's position would consider material to their decision to undergo the surgery. The Court affirmed that causation in such cases requires proof that the patient would not have undergone the procedure had they been properly warned, and that the risk that materialised was one of the risks that would have deterred them. The Court found that the trial judge had made sufficient findings on causation.

The appeal was dismissed, and the appellant was ordered to pay the costs of the appeal.