[The physician's duty to explain the possibility of damage to the ureter during abdominal hysterectomy].

The Federal German High Court (Bundesgerichtshof) ruled on 28 February 1984 (File No. VI ZR 70/82) that it would never be possible to completely exclude the possibility of an injury to adjacent organs in case of abdominal hysterectomy even with all due care. Hence, injury to the ureter during such surgery could not be considered as a case of malpractice. However, the physician, as now ruled by the said Court, is obliged to inform his patient beforehand of the possible risk of an injury to the ureter. This does not necessarily imply to list all possible risks in all possible variants. It will be sufficient to give the patient a general idea, even though in rough outlines, of the severity of the impending surgical intervention and of the complications possibly and specifically connected with this particular operation.