3614                                                       VETOES

WHEREAS, Disfigurement through operations has occurred with
many women who have had breast cancer; and

WHEREAS, It is alleged that physicians frequently do not

communicate to women with breast cancer the diagnosis,

description, and purpose of the treatment proposed, the

probability of success of the treatment, the risks involved in
the treatment, feasible alternative treatments available, and the
possible consequence if the woman refuses the treatment; and

WHEREAS, The right of a patient to grant prior consent to a
medical procedure has long been recognized in the common law; and

WHEREAS, The most important element of valid informed
consent to any medical treatment is the communication by the
physician of adequate information to enable the patient to make a
truly voluntary and knowledgeable decision; and

WHEREAS, Many jurisdictions have codified the common law
right to informed consent; and

WHEREAS, The theoretical legal foundation for a lack of
consent suit has shifted in many jurisdictions from the earlier
theory of battery to a theory predicted on the physician's

negligent failure to comply with acceptable standards of

practice, if the physician's failure has proximately caused
injury to the patient; and

WHEREAS, The most accepted standard of lack of consent suits
is the "reasonable physician" standard, under which test, the
sufficiency of the physician's disclosure is determined by
comparing it with the scope of information that would have been
disclosed to the patient under similar circumstances by a
reasonable physician; and

WHEREAS, Full disclosure, i.e., provision of all known
information regarding the treatment proposed and alternatives,
provides the best defense for a physician against a lack of
informed consent claim; and

WHEREAS, Although no jurisdiction has adopted a standard of
full disclosure, rapid medical developments and sophisticated
technology have created a situation in which the patient is
vulnerable to inappropriate treatment without an unambiguous
communication of the known facts; now, therefore,

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
MARYLAND, That the Laws of Maryland read as follows:

Article - Health Occupations

14-504.

Subject to the hearing provisions of § 14-505 of this
subtitle, the Commission, on the affirmative vote of a majority