Chester v Afshar

The appeal in Chester v Afshar concerned whether a doctor is liable in damages for a patient's injury if the patient would not have undergone surgery at all if properly warned of the risks, but would have undergone surgery at a later date. The House of Lords found that the doctor was liable, and overturned the Court of Appeal's decision. The House of Lords found that the doctor's failure to warn of the risks involved in surgery was a breach of his duty to the patient. The injury that the patient suffered was within the scope of that duty. The purpose of the duty to warn patients of the risks involved in surgery is to enable the patient to make an informed choice as to whether, and if so when and by whom, to be operated on. The law should enable rights to be vindicated and provide remedies when duties have been breached. To leave the patient who would find the decision difficult without a remedy, as the normal approach to causation would indicate, would render the duty useless in the cases where it may be needed most. This would discriminate against those who cannot honestly say that they would have declined the operation once and for all if they had been warned. The House of Lords found that the doctor was liable for the patient's injury.