SB 137

Under Wisconsin's physician informed consent law, a physician who treats a

patient has a duty to inform the patient about the availability of all alternate, viable

medical modes of treatment and the benefits and risks of those treatments, subject

to certain exceptions. A physician who fails to so inform a patient about modes of

treatment may be held civilly liable for damages under tort law. The Wisconsin

Supreme Court has employed a "reasonable patient standard" to determine whether

a physician has fulfilled his or her duty. Under the reasonable patient standard, a

physician must disclose information necessary for a reasonable person in the

patient's position to make an intelligent decision with respect to the choices of

treatment. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has also held that the duty to inform a

patient about alternate modes of treating the patient's condition includes the duty

to inform a patient about alternate modes of diagnosing the patient's condition.

This bill instead provides that any physician who treats a patient has a duty

to inform the patient about the availability of reasonable alternate medical modes

of treatment and the benefits and risks of those treatments, and provides that the

"reasonable physician standard" is the standard for informing a patient under the

physician informed consent law. The bill provides that the reasonable physician

standard requires the disclosure only of information that a reasonable physician in

the same or a similar medical specialty would know and disclose under the

circumstances. The bill also provides that the physician's duty does not require the

disclosure of information about alternate medical modes of treatment for conditions

that the physician does not believe the patient has at the time the physician informs

the patient.