Tell your clients you may hurt them: Negligence, consent, and contemporary psychological practice

Abstract

Two cases of medical negligence were brought before the High Court during the 1990s. The resulting judgments altered the pre-existing law of negligence and imposed new duties on all health professionals, including psychologists. Subsequent legislative changes have incorporated these High Court judgments and reaffirmed the duty that psychologists have to inform their clients of the (frequently unrecognised) risks of treatment. These same changes allow the possibility of psychologists being sued if they engage in forms of practice that are not logically defensible. We describe the historical context of the law of medical negligence and consider the ramifications that the recent legal changes have for psychologists.