Abortion, Information and The Law: What Every Doctor Needs To Know, 2d ed.

• Position: Review

Introduction

This Booklet is a brief guide to the taw on informed consent as it applies to doctors advising patient's who are considering abortion [in Australia]. The Booklet is not an opinion piece, either "pro-choice" or "pro-life." It makes no mention of the "right to life" of the fetus. The focus of the Booklet is entirely medical and legal. It considers what best practice requires in advising and treating pregnant patients, and how doctors can best avoid putting themselves unnecessarily in legal jeopardy. The result is a booklet that is accessible and helpful to all doctors, whatever their personal opinions on abortion, whether "pro-choice" or "pro-life."

The Booklet deals only with the liability of doctors to civil litigation for negligence in failing to inform patients adequately. No mention is made of the status of abortion in the criminal law, or of how the criminal law varies from State to State as a result of judicial decisions and statutory changes. The rights and duties of doctors and patients regarding informed consent are common law rights and duties. They prevail in all Australian States and Territories.

A hospital and a doctor in Melbourne have already been sued for negligence in failing to inform a woman of the risk of serious adverse psychological sequelae to abortion, and have settled out of court, and a similar case has been settled out of court in Sydney. In the Sydney case, the GP [general practitioner] who referred the plaintiff for abortion was one of the defendants.

The credibility of this Booklet depends entirely on how adequately it summarizes the judicial decisions and the medical research papers that are cited. The authors are confident of the ability of doctors and other health professionals to refer to the references cited in the endnotes, and to satisfy themselves that the Booklet is comprehensive and professionally credible.

The first edition of this Booklet, prepared in response to the very inadequate pamphlet issued to Western Australian doctors by the Health Department in 1998, was launched at the Sheraton Hotel in Perth in August 1999 by Dr. Joel Brind, Professor of Biology and Endocrinology at Baruch College, City University of New York. The first edition was circulated to doctors and health professionals in Western Australia. This second edition has been prepared for the use of doctors and health professionals in other States. Additional copies are available ($5 posted) from the address below.

Abstrac...