In the unfortunate event of a serious injury or illness, it's always nice to hear the doctor's diagnosis and a full explanation of the various options for treatment. It's also the law. Understanding what's going on and giving doctors the green light for treatment is called "informed consent," as explained by FindLaw:
The information must be in plain language terms that can readily be understood and in sufficient amounts such that a patient is able to make an "informed" decision about his or her health care.
But if a physician performs a procedure, prescribes drugs, or otherwise practices without informed consent from the patient, he or she can be sued for malpractice or even charged with a criminal offense. Often such situations are charged as "battery," since technically the plaintiff has been touched in an unauthorized way.
If a doctor has not explained your situation or failed to ensure that you fully understand his or her treatment suggestions, and you suffered as a result, then you may want to contact a Chicago accident attorney.
To win such a case, the patient must prove that the procedure had the risks, or if possible outcomes of the procedure been disclosed beforehand, he or she would have opted out of the procedure. Additionally, the patient must be able to prove actual injury from the procedure.
One exemption to this requirement is emergency care, in which case the doctors and nurses must act quickly and/or the patient is not lucid enough to provide informed consent.
While the charming physicians of popular television shows "House" and "Grey's Anatomy" don't always get consent from patients, it's important to remember that these shows are fiction. A Fox News article cites a study finding that more than half of the consent discussions depicted on those two shows were "inadequate."
But is proper and legal medical procedure sexy or entertaining? It's up to the patients (or juries) to decide.
Related Resources:
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Medical Malpractice - Resources (FindLaw)
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Search Chicago Injury Lawyers (FindLaw)
