INFORMED CONSENT

Sherwood v. Danbury Hosp., No. 17202 (Conn. May 16, 2006)

The Supreme Court of Connecticut held that a hospital did not have a duty to inform a patient of the risks associated with a blood transfusion. At the time of the patient's elective surgery in 1985, there were risks involved with blood transfusions because not all of a hospital's blood supply was tested for the HIV virus. It was, thus, the physician's duty to inform patients about the general risk of contracting HIV from a blood transfusion. The court also held that the hospital did not have a fiduciary relationship with the patient and therefore did not have to inform her of the risks of a transfusion.