Abstract:
On 11 March 2015, the UK Supreme Court delivered its decision in Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board [2015] UKSC 11 and in doing so overturned a long-standing principle of law established for over 30 years, by holding that the famous Bolam test should no longer govern the liability of doctors in the so-called ‘informed consent’ cases.  Instead of leaving it to the medical profession to decide what should be disclosed to patients, the Supreme Court directed that a more ‘patient-centred’ test better suited to modern ideals of individual autonomy and human rights must be applied. This case has huge and important implications for the medical profession in Hong Kong (given that the Bolam rule is applied in Hong Kong), and to all lawyers who do medical negligence work.  In this Public Lecture, Mr Badenoch QC will explore the implications of Montgomery for the new standard for the duty of disclosure owed by doctors to their patients.

Speaker:
James Badenoch, QC (MA Oxford) took silk in 1989, and was lead Counsel for the successful plaintiff in the Montgomery case.  He has specialised for over 35 years in clinical negligence, medical law and medical disciplinary cases.  He has appeared in a succession of major cases in the House of Lords, the UK Supreme Court, the Privy Council, the GMC and the GDC, and also in the High Court and the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong.  He is a Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn, a Deputy High Court Judge (since 1994), a President of the Mental Health Review Tribunal (since 1999), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, Chairman Emeritus of the Expert Witness Institute, and has been a Recorder of the Crown Court (1987-2012).

Video:
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