Paperwork has become a standard component of modern medical care. Patients have to fill out a variety of legal documents to see a physician. They have to provide written approval for a doctor to share medical information with others. They may also have to affirm that they consent to certain types of treatment in writing. Most medical regimens come with a degree of risk. Patients can have poor reactions to prescription drugs. Treatment is not always successful.
As such, patients need to understand the risks and provide informed consent before undergoing special forms of treatment. Unusual interventions and experimental procedures are among the types of care that may require informed consent from a patient. Medical practices often demand that people sign documents affirming their informed consent before agreeing to treat them.
However, a physician may not have actually provided the information necessary for a patient to give informed consent for treatment. In such cases, a patient may theoretically have experienced malpractice.
What does informed consent require?
Typically, adult patients provide informed consent on their own behalf unless they have an incapacitating medical condition. Parents typically provide consent on behalf of minor children. There are several requirements that the situation must meet for a patient to provide informed consent.
They need to understand their diagnosis and likely prognosis. They also need to understand the different treatment options available. Particularly when doctors recommend experimental treatments for conditions that could respond to other forms of care, ensuring that the patient recognizes there are other options available is of the utmost importance.
Patients should have information about the likely success rates of the experimental treatment and other treatment options. They also need to know about the potential side effects. Physicians should ensure that patients have information about the worst possible side effects, even if they are rare, as well as the most common side effects.
When doctors rush patients through the process of consenting to care or simply demand that they sign a document, the patient may not understand the risks involved or their other options. Particularly when the patient then has a predictable negative reaction to treatment or the treatment is unsuccessful, they may question whether the doctor misled them and put them at unnecessary risk.
Filing a medical malpractice lawsuit is sometimes possible in scenarios where physicians failed to properly educate and communicate with their patients. Providing informed consent to treatment involves more than simply signing a document. Patients have to be able to evaluate the situation and make a reasonable decision about the treatment they receive.