Petrunic and Anor. v. Barnes, 1 February 1988
Annual Review of Population Law 15: 22
1988
ISSN/ISBN: 0364-3417 PMID: 12289437 Document Number: 337832
The defendant physician was charged with negligence and breach of contract in the performance of a tubal ligation on the plaintiff. After the plaintiff became pregnant and gave birth to twins, she and her husband sought damages for pecuniary losses resulting from the birth of twins, claiming that the defendant should have warned them of the risk of failure of the operation or mentioned the alternative of performance of a vasectomy on the husband. The Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia, held that the defendant had no duty to inform the plaintiffs of the risk of failure or the alternative of a vasectomy since his actions accorded with accepted practice within the profession. It also concluded that, even if he had warned the plaintiffs, they would not have withheld their consent to the operation.