Montgomery & material risk
What it means
Montgomery v Lanarkshire (2015) set the modern consent standard: a doctor must disclose any risk to which a REASONABLE PERSON IN THE PATIENT'S POSITION would attach significance, OR which this particular patient would. It replaced Bolam for consent — disclosure is judged by the patient's perspective, not professional custom. Drives shared decision-making and documentation of risks discussed.
Worked example
A small but serious risk that this patient (a professional musician worried about hand function) would clearly care about must be disclosed — even if many doctors wouldn't routinely mention it.
In the exam
Deciding which risks to discuss before an operation, the surgeon considers what this particular patient — and a reasonable patient in her position — would want to know.
What settles it
Montgomery governs CONSENT/disclosure (patient-centred); Bolam/Bolitho still governs the standard of DIAGNOSIS and TREATMENT (responsible body of opinion).
Classically confused with
Bolam & Bolitho
Source: Montgomery v Lanarkshire 2015