The health professional's duty to warn of preconception risks

The law is clear that a nurse's duty of care includes giving advice and information about the inherent risks of a proposed action and whether any steps can be taken to minimise the risk (Sidaway v Bethlem Royal Hospital [1985]). Failure to warn of material risks that then caused harm would result in an action for negligence (Chatterton v Gerson [1981]).

The law underpinning this duty to warn moved away from the traditional ‘nurse knows best’ approach to a person-centred ‘prudent patient’ approach with the UK Supreme Court decision in Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board [2015]. In its judgment, the UK Supreme Court held that nurses and other health professionals could no longer rely on the paternalistic Bolam Test (Bolam v Friern HMC [1957]) as the standard for disclosing information about risks inherent in treatment. The Court found that greater importance was now attached to personal autonomy and, when asking for advice before making a decision that might have an effect on their health and wellbeing, patients were entitled to information about risks and about alternative treatment that might be available.