The changing paradigm of the doctor-patient relationship: Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board and developments in the 'duty to warn'.

The standard of risk disclosure required in New Zealand and the UK has differed until recently. Medical practitioners who perform treatment without adequate disclosure run the risk of violating patients' rights, and fail to practice at the high level reasonably expected of them. Before Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board, it was the case in the UK that a practitioner need not disclose a particular risk of treatment if a qualified body of medical opinion would also not have disclosed that risk. In this viewpoint, we examine the change brought about by Montgomery, and its implications for New Zealand practitioners.