Cattanach v Melchior
Overview
 
Cattanach v Melchior [2003] HCA 38; (2003) 215 CLR
Commonwealth Law Reports
The Commonwealth Law Reports are the authorised reports of decisions of the High Court of Australia. The CLR are published by the Lawbook Company, a division of Thomson Reuters...

 1, was a significant case decided in the High Court of Australia
High Court of Australia
The High Court of Australia is the supreme court in the Australian court hierarchy and the final court of appeal in Australia. It has both original and appellate jurisdiction, has the power of judicial review over laws passed by the Parliament of Australia and the parliaments of the States, and...

 regarding the tort of negligence in a medical context. It was held by a majority of the High Court (Gleeson
Murray Gleeson
Anthony Murray Gleeson AC QC is a former Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy.-Biography:Gleeson was born in Wingham, New South Wales, the eldest of four children...

 CJ, Hayne
Kenneth Hayne
Kenneth Madison Hayne AC is a Justice of the High Court of Australia which is the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy.-Education and professional life:...

 and Heydon
Dyson Heydon
John Dyson Heydon AC QC is a Justice of the High Court of Australia; the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy.-Education:...

 JJ dissenting) that the negligent doctor could be held responsible for the costs of raising and maintaining a healthy child.
Mrs Kerry Anne Melchior had seen the obstetrician and gynaecologist Stephen Alfred Cattanach, and asked for a tubal ligation
Tubal ligation
Tubal ligation or tubectomy is a surgical procedure for sterilization in which a woman's fallopian tubes are clamped and blocked, or severed and sealed, either method of which prevents eggs from reaching the uterus for fertilization...

 procedure to be performed on her, citing financial inability to support a third child.
Discussions
 
x
OK