Medical providers are ethically and legally required to give a patient adequate information about a treatment or test before it can proceed. The patient should learn about the intended procedure’s benefits and potential risks, reasonable alternatives and their benefits and potential risks, expected results and time to to recover, among other crucial details. Consequently, they can give informed consent.
Therefore, lack of informed consent may be considered medical malpractice. But there may be exceptions to this, including:
Emergencies
Giving informed consent may only apply to nonemergency procedures. A doctor may not need to provide adequate information to a patient during emergencies, such as seizures, traumatic injuries, stroke, choking, heart attack and so on.
Information detrimental to someone’s health
If a physician believes a particular information may be detrimental to a patient’s health or beyond the patient’s ability to understand, perhaps the patient is a minor/ their ability to make decisions is in question, they are required to provide an in-depth explanation to the patient’s next of kin or guardian. The guardian or next of kin may give consent on the patient’s behalf.
Lack of informed consent
If a physician starts a treatment or test without providing information to a patient or their loved one when necessary, the patient can file a medical malpractice claim against the physician on the grounds of lack of informed consent.
The patient may need to prove the treatment/test was performed without their consent – confirm the absence of a written, signed and dated informed consent form. Additionally, the patient may need to show that if they had adequate information, they would not have agreed to the treatment or test.
If a physician performed an unauthorized procedure on you, get legal help to protect your rights as a patient.