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F v R [(1983) 33 SASR 189] (Supreme Court of South Australia)

Court decision

Evidence was given that the doctor had conformed with a responsible body of medical opinion. and the court decided that the defendant had not been careless. King CJ justified the issue of therapeutic privilege, under certain circumstances, when he said:

"Even where all other considerations indicate full disclosure of risks, a doctor is justified in withholding information, and in particular refraining from volunteering information, when he judges on reasonable grounds that the patient's health, physical or mental, might be seriously harmed by the information. Justification may also exist for not imparting information when the doctor reasonably judges that a patient's temperament or emotional state is such that he would be unable to make the information a basis for a rational decision.

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