Judgment, 11 October 1988.
The Supreme Court of France reversed a lower court ruling dismissing the suit of a woman who sought damages resulting from an unauthorized tubal ligation.  The ligation had been performed without her consent following a Cesarean Section.  The physician contended that, if he had sought her consent prior to the operation, it would have been unreasonable for her to refuse given the risk of a ruptured uterus if she became pregnant again.  The Court held that a physician may not operate on a patient without that patient's free and informed consent except in cases of evident necessity or immediate danger.  It concluded that neither of these existed here.
D002585:Cesarean Section; D003068:Coercion; D019049:Developed Countries; D005060:Europe; D016656:Family Planning Policy; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005602:France; D013502:General Surgery; D007258:Informed Consent; D007603:Jurisprudence; D013513:Obstetric Surgical Procedures; D011640:Public Policy; D013245:Sterilization, Reproductive; D013246:Sterilization, Tubal; D013812:Therapeutics
Cesarean Section; Court Decision; Developed Countries; Europe; Family Planning; Family Planning Policy; Female Sterilization; France; Informed Consent--legal aspects; Involuntary Fertility Control--legal aspects; Medical Liability; Mediterranean Countries; Obstetrical Surgery; Policy; Population Policy; Postcesarean Section; Social Policy; Sterilization, Sexual; Surgery; Treatment; Tubal Ligation; Tubal Occlusion; Western Europe