Pepper v Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust
[2020] EWHC 310 (QB)·2020·Liability decided at trial
Ms Pepper argued she had only agreed to a Whipple's operation if an intra-operative biopsy proved cancer, and the biopsy was negative. The judge found she had consented to surgery if the biopsy was positive or the pancreas looked suspicious, that intra-operative biopsies are known to be unreliable, and dismissed the claim.
Consent disputes turn on what was actually agreed before surgery, and courts give weight to contemporaneous notes and what a reasonable patient would have decided. A negative result on an unreliable test does not by itself make surgery negligent.