Limits to consent in cosmetic interventions: an update.

ABSTRACT

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.