Arndt v Smith

(1996) 7 Med LR 35

BRITISH COLUMBIA SUPREME COURT

and

Professional liability — General practitioner — Duty to warn — Pregnant mother infected with chicken pox — Doctor's failure to warn of improbable but grave risks to foetus — Baby born suffering from congenital varicella syndrome — Action against doctor by parents — Whether parents' decision to abandon claim for wrongful life on behalf of child was appropriate — Whether duty on doctor to warn obstetric patients of all material risks faced by unborn foetuses — Whether doctor's failure to fully inform patient of all material risks amounted to medical negligence — Whether duty on doctor to warn prospective father of all material risks faced by foetus — Causation — Whether parents' action barred by (British Columbia) Limitation Act 1979