This update restates the legal limits of consent to medical treatment. It reviews the classic statement of law set down by the case of R v Brown, where 'proper medical treatment' was stated to be exempted from the ordinary laws of consent. This position has been recently developed further by the 2018 English case of R v BM where a non-medical body modification artist was convicted for having carried out substantive body modification procedures. This article considers how these developments may affect Australian law, particularly laws pertaining to cosmetic procedures.
Keywords: assault; body modification; consent; medical exception.
© 2019 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.