The doctrine of informed consent has also been extended to pharmaceutical drugs, as demonstrated by the rulings in Reyes v. Wyeth Laboratories and McPherson v.
[1] He received laminectomy by Dr. William T. Spence, a well-known Washington neurosurgeon, and as a result of the surgery, and a subsequent fall from his bed while hospitalized, he ended up paralyzed below the waist and incontinent.
[1] During the 1968 trial, the defense argued that since Canterbury lacked expert testimony, the case could not proceed.
[1] At the second trial, Spence acknowledged that he had told Canterbury and his mother only that the surgery might result in “weakness" without mentioning paralysis, and that he avoided a more specific warning so as not to deter the patient from pursuing the operation.
[1][2] According to Dr. Jacob M. Appel, "[t]he major legal implication of the decision...was that it largely shifted our culture from a ‘professional practice standard’ to a ‘reasonable person standard’ in malpractice cases, undermined the tradition and practice of physicians not testifying against each other, and largely opened the floodgates to the far more litigious medicolegal culture we have today.