The UK Supreme Court delivered its judgment in Montgomery v Lanarkshire [2015] UKSC 11 on 10 March. This is a landmark decision concerning informed consent and the disclosure of risk in medical negligence litigation.

In her judgement Lady Hale cites from Principles of Medical Law (OUP, 2010), which is jointly edited by Professor Jean McHale. Director of the Centre for Health Law, Science and Policy at Birmingham Law School, Professor Andrew Grubb, formerly of Kings College London and Cardiff University, and Dr Judy Laing of Bristol Law School.

In her judgment Lady Hale states:

In the third (2010) edition of their leading work on Principles of Medical Law, Andrew Grubb, Judith Laing and Jean McHale confidently announced that a detailed analysis of the different speeches of the House of Lords in Sidaway v Board of Governors of the Bethlem Royal Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital [1985] AC 871 was no longer necessary. A combination of the 2008 Guidance provided by the General Medical Council, the decision of the Court of Appeal in Pearce v United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust [1999] PIQR P 53 and the decision of the House of Lords in Chester v Afshar [2005] 1 AC 134 meant that it could now be stated “with a reasonable degree of confidence” that the need for informed consent was firmly part of English law (para 8.70). This case has provided us with the opportunity, not only to confirm that confident statement, but also to make it clear that the same principles apply in Scotland' (para. 107).

A new edition of Principles of Medical Law will be published by Oxford University Press later in 2015.