It may seem obvious that a physician must get consent from a patient before administering medical treatment or performing a procedure. But informed consent is more than just a signature on a form. Healthcare providers must make sure that patients have a clear understanding of what to expect.
What constitutes a ‘failure’ to obtain consent?
Patients in New York trust their doctors to help them make the best decisions possible when it comes to their health. When a doctor fails to take the appropriate steps to obtain informed consent from the patient, the patient is unable to make an educated decision. To establish a lack of informed consent, a patient may establish:
- Failure to inform: The physician did not provide information about the patient’s diagnosis, risks and benefits of the treatment or procedure, alternative treatments or procedures, and/or what is likely to happen if the patient denies treatment.
- Failure to properly explain: The physician may have obtained consent, but the patient did not fully comprehend the information presented. The physician may have used complex medical terms rather than terms a layperson could understand.
- Causation: In addition to establishing that they did not provide informed consent, the patient must also prove that there was a link between the informed consent and the harm they suffered. The patient may establish that if they had been properly informed of the risk of the procedure, they would have never consented to the procedure in the first place, and therefore would have avoided the side effects they suffered because of the procedure.
Medical professionals must obtain informed consent from their patients before proceeding with treatments. If a patient suffers harm as a result of a healthcare professional failing to get their consent before treatment, the patient may have a legitimate claim for medical malpractice.