Duty of doctors to inform patients about risks of surgery

NST: PUTRAJAYA: Doctors have a duty to disclose the risk to their patients before performing critical operations.
And it is for patients to decide whether to go for surgery.
Failure to warn patients on the possible consequences could result in doctors facing a medical negligence suit, should the operation be a failure.
The Federal Court yesterday affirmed its earlier decision when a five-man panel dismissed, with costs, an application by a doctor and a private hospital to review the ruling.
“We find this is not a fit and proper case to exercise our inherent powers to set aside the judgment of the Federal Court,” said Federal Court judge Datuk Alauddin Sheriff who chaired the quorum.
Others were Datuk Arifin Zakaria, Datuk Nik Hashim Nik Abdul Rahman, Datuk Seri S. Augustine Paul and Datuk Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin.
Their decision was unanimous.
Private doctors in their personal capacity and those representing their organisations were also present when the court pronounced its ruling.
On Dec 29 last year, Foo Fio Na won RM1.2 million in damages, including interest, following a botched operation on the spine by consultant orthopaedic surgeon Dr Soo Fook Mun.
Foo, 49, who was not in court, had also named Assunta Hospital as a defendant to the action.
Dr Soo filed the leave application to review the Federal Court’s decision on Jan 19, which was granted.
Foo was paralysed from neck down 25 years ago after undergoing an operation to treat her dislocated cervical vertebrae following an accident in which her car crashed into a tree.
The trial court was told that a wire inserted into the bones in the neck during the surgery was compressing the spinal cord. Both defendants denied her claims.
Foo, a former clerk who was only 24 when the accident occurred, filed a legal action against Dr Soo and Assunta Hospital in 1987 for negligence.
Foo originally won the damages in the High Court on April 8, 1999, but the Court of Appeal overturned the judgment on April 5, 2001, declaring that it was uncertain whether Dr Soo and the hospital were negligent.
The Federal Court ruling on Dec 29 also made it easier for litigants to prove negligence against persons professing a specialised skill.
In the landmark ruling, it raised the benchmark of service specialists owed to their clients, and they were no longer in the same league as ordinary medical doctors when they are slapped with medical negligence suits by their patients.
Foo said she was glad her suit had come to finality after 20 years and that it had helped raise awareness on the rights of patients.
“This case has created a level playing field for patients and doctors.
“Patients should be allowed to decide on their lives and consequences before doctors carry out critical or life-threatening operations,” she said.