Assault and battery, or legitimate treatment?
In response to cases of high-handed medical interventions and treatments, a debate on the legal justification of operations and the relevance of patients' consent developed among German-speaking jurists in the 1890s. The view that surgery was objectively physical injury or battery, which went merely unpunished through the patient's consent, was highly contested among legal experts and firmly rejected by doctors. Various proposals to justify indicated medical treatment without consent were discussed. German jurisdiction, however, endorsed the battery theory of medical interventions and thus prepared the way for the concept of informed consent in medicine.
Maehle
A H
AH
Dept. of Philosophy, University of Durham, 50 Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HN, Great Britain.
D005060:Europe; D005554:Forensic Medicine / Q000266:history*; D013502:General Surgery / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000266:history*