[To what extent must the surgeon inform an injured patient about the choice of treatment possibilities? Comments on a ruling of the German Federal Court important for accident therapeutics].

With its judgement of May 11, 1982, the Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Law) has decided that it is primarily up to the doctor to choose the therapy method by which a person injured during an accident has to be treated. The patient must be informed only if there are different risks for him involved in different methods, e.g. if the doctor wants to apply a method criticized again and again in the literature. An information that a smaller hospital doesn't eventually correspond to the standard of a specialized hospital is only necessary if adequate treatment and care is not possible in the hospital where the patient is admitted.