Using information disclosure as a consumer protection technique rests on the assumption that the average consumer has the capacity to process information and act on it, and that it is only atypical vulnerable consumers who need special protection. Yet, as Howells points out, ‘The truth is that we are all to some extent vulnerable, because of the limitations of the human mind.’ 50 Oren-Gill and Ben-Shahar explain that: As Purshouse has observed, by characterising patients ‘as capable adults responsible for their own choice’, informed consent cases appear ‘to be developing separate rules to those governing the rest of medical negligence’, 11 where judges continue to draw attention to patients’ vulnerability. 12 For the UK Supreme Court to draw an analogy between patients and consumers in the context of informed consent is also interesting given the increasing recognition that consumers fail routinely to understand and use information disclosures. Patients’ ‘pathologies of reasoning’ 85 are not confined to over-optimism. As King and Moulton explain, patient comprehension may also be affected by ‘availability bias’, where patients ‘overestimate their risk of contracting a condition that receives substantial media coverage, such as breast cancer’; ‘compression bias’, which involves ‘patients overestimating small risks and underestimating large ones’; ‘small numbers bias’ where patients ‘misinterpret their individual risk based on a small number of known cases (my two friends both had complications after their hysterectomies, so I probably will too)’; and ‘miscalibration bias’ which involves patients being ‘overly confident about the extent or accuracy of their knowledge’. 86 Lauren also expressed a real sense of discontent about not being able to compensate her surrogate, saying: Medical Law: Text, Cases, and Materials offers all of the explanation, commentary, and extracts from cases and key materials that students need to gain a thorough understanding of this complex topic.

Criminalising the supply of tobacco’ Health Economics, Policy and Law Volume 6 / Issue 02 (2011) pp 279 - 281 With Huseyin Naci et al ‘Generating comparative evidence on new drugs and devices before approval’ (2020) 395 The Lancet 986-997. There are multiple differences between pre-contractual information disclosures to consumers and the process of gaining a patient’s informed consent to medical treatment. First, as Tallis explained in the context of a debate over whether patients should be redefined as customers: Secondly, pre-contractual disclosures are often explicitly intended to reduce or eliminate liability. Even if there is evidence that some patients think that by signing a consent form, they have waived their right to sue if something goes wrong, 37 the consent form is not a contract, and the patient is free to change her mind after signing it.Adjuncts in the IVF laboratory: where is the evidence for "add-on" interventions?' (2017) 32 Human Reproduction 485-491 (with Joyce Harper et al.) nonphysicians hear the word ‘treatable’ as conveying good news about the future, thereby inspiring hope and encouraging further treatment. In contrast, physicians use the word ‘treatable’ in a technical sense, to convey that they have an action or intervention available, which does not necessarily imply an improved prognosis or quality of life. 83

Regulating Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing: the view from the UK' (2014) 50 Japanese Journal of Law and Political Science 9-19. One of the Canadian agencies we spoke to assigned a full-time support worker to each surrogate and a different employee to support each set of intended parents. The agent, Sally, explained that these workers played an invaluable role in resolving issues and ensuring that disputes did not arise in the course of the relationship between the parties. In contrast, some of the intended parents who undertook unpaid surrogacy within Australia felt that, after the clinic’s initial counselling session, they were ‘left on their own’. For example, Lachlan describes the limited service provided by the Australian clinic that he and his wife attended: In a similar vein, O’Neill has argued that the purpose of informed consent is not so much to ensure patients make autonomous choices, but rather to guard against deception and coercion. 105One is I knew that technically by the law of New South Wales, we were breaking that law. [Another parent] kind of put my feelings in that regard at ease in saying "well, if they arrest you for it, they’re going to arrest hundreds of other people who have done exactly the same thing that you’re thinking of doing", which made me feel better about being more open about it. Also available as an e-book with functionality, navigation features, and links that offer extra learning support

In whose interests? The prohibition of assisted suicide in the UK' in Iyiola Solanke (ed) On Crime, Society and Responsibility in the work of Nicola Lacey (Oxford University Press, 2021) 171-192. What we might describe as the Montgomery model of informed consent assumes that, following information disclosure and discussions with their doctor, patients will understand the risks associated with treatment, and any alternatives to it, and will decide whether to proceed after having considered this information, in the light of their values. 70 In practice, however, there is evidence that medical decisions are not always made in this rational, linear way. Patients may not understand what they have been told, and the information they receive may have little impact upon their choices. This should not be surprising. If psychologists and behavioural economists are right about the limitations on human beings’ reasoning capacities and their decision-making biases, it would be peculiar if these had no impact at all in other decision-making contexts.Jill Peay 'Mental incapacity and criminal liability: Redrawing the fault lines?' International Journal of Law and Psychiatry40 (2015) pp.25-35