ARTICLE · 16 MAY 2025

Consent In The Clinic: What Informed Consent Really Means

Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP

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For any practising veterinarian, obtaining informed consent is an important step before proceeding with an important treatment, especially surgery.

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For any practising veterinarian, obtaining informed consent is an important step before proceeding with an important treatment, especially surgery. However, what constitutes "informed consent"? Practically speaking, what does obtaining "informed consent" actually look like?

Two recent decisions from the discipline committee of the College of Veterinarians of Ontario are helpful to this discussion: Dhaliwal v. College of Veterinarians of Ontario, 2025 ONSC 1931 (CanLII) ("Dhaliwal") and Ontario (College of Veterinarians) v Dua, 2024 ONCVO 9 (CanLII) ("Dua").

To briefly review the issues in each case:

In Dhaliwal, three complaints from different dog owners were made against Dr. Dhaliwal. This blog post will focus on the "Mehrotra" complaint, which concerned a 12-year-old Jack Russell Terrier, Chiko, who was suffering from a liver tumour. Dr. Dhaliwal performed liver lobectomy surgery on Chiko.

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The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

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