Informed Consent:
Robinson's Two Exceptions to the Rule of Disclosure
(Judge Spotswood W. Robinson III in Canterbury v. Spence)

  1. "The first comes into play when the patient is unconscious or otherwise incapable of consenting, and harm from a failure to treat is imminent and outweighs any harm threatened by the proposed treatment." (MVS p.145a)

  2. "The second exception obtains when risk-disclosure poses such a threat of detriment to the patient as to become unfeasible or contraindicated from a medical point of view." (MVS p.145b)


Richard Lee, rlee@uark.edu, last modified: 19 October 2011