ABSTRACT
Surgeons are accustomed to disclosing to their patients that the proposed operation may go wrong. The disclosure of ‘bleeding and infection’ is ubiquitous across the land, together with the more specific foreseeable risks, such as damage to contiguous structures, recurrence of the original diagnosis or inadvertent exacerbation of disease. The patient awaiting surgery for her rectal cancer might present with venous thromboembolism. This is a regrettable complication of her disease, but by itself cannot lead to the deduction that something has gone wrong with surgical management. Clinicians, and those in the hospital who advise them, need to be certain of the facts before being candid, to ensure that they do not mislead the patient when fulfilling their duty of candour. It is likely that candour relating to fault and causation, while eventually necessary, may only be possible after an investigation of the event leading to the complication is concluded.
