Abstract

KIE: Dyer summarizes a 1986 legal inquiry in Scotland that has implications for physicians, particularly radiologists, practicing in Great Britain. A 7-year-old boy died within 24 hours of undergoing a neuroradiological procedure at a private hospital partly owned by the plastic surgeon who recommended the operation to the child's parents. The surgeon informed the parents neither of the risks involved nor of the fact that another physician, a neuroradiologist, would perform the embolization. During the inquiry, a neuroradiologist first consulted by the surgeon testified that the procedure entailed some risk of serious injury, and that she would have operated only in a better-equipped facility. The court ruled that both the surgeon and the radiologist were at fault, and that uncertainty over responsibility for the patient had resulted in the parents' not being informed fully of the procedure's risks, and in the child's not receiving proper post-operative monitoring.