← All Authorities
Australia Leading Case professional negligencecausation factual

Wallace v Kam

(2013) 250 CLR 375
JurisdictionAustralia
CourtHigh Court of Australia
Year2013
StatusBinding authority

Summary

A doctor's failure to warn is causally relevant only if the patient would not have proceeded had they been warned of the specific risk that materialised.

Key Principle

The HCA held that a doctor's failure to warn of a material risk (under Rogers v Whitaker) is causally relevant only if the patient would not have undergone the procedure had they been warned of the particular risk that eventuated.

Area of Law

tort

Related Cases

Bird v DP (A Pseudonym) (2024) 98 ALJR 486

High Court of Australia held a religious organisation vicariously liable for sexual abuse by a priest, recognising a relationship akin to employment sufficient to ground vicarious liability.

Bryant v Badenoch Integrated Logging Pty Ltd (2023) 278 CLR 99

High Court of Australia held that the peak indebtedness rule does not apply when assessing unfair preferences under s 588FA of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).

Kozarov v Victoria (2022) 275 CLR 115

An employer owes a duty to take reasonable steps to protect an employee from psychiatric injury caused by vicarious trauma, and may breach that duty by failing to act on obvious warning signs.

Ask CommonBench about this case

Get a detailed analysis of Wallace v Kam and how it applies to your situation.

Explain Wallace v Kam