Every day, we trust doctors and surgeons to make life-and-death decisions with our health. We fall asleep in operating rooms and wake up in recovery, hoping nothing goes wrong, and trusting that our doctors will make the right decision if it does.
Unfortunately, many patients don’t realize that they could have made the decision themselves—but their surgeon never gave them the choice.
Informed consent must be obtained before any surgical procedure, and can have an enormous impact on your Louisville medical malpractice case. Simply put, this consent is a legal authorization to perform treatment. It usually states that the patient understands all possible treatments, the risks of any procedures, and possible side effects and consequences.
The guidelines for informed consent in Kentucky include:
- An explanation of all procedures and their risks in layman’s terms
- Making sure that the patient is mentally and legally capable of giving consent
- The health care provider cannot coerce a patient into giving consent
- Each specific procedure must be consented to separately
- A surgeon is limited to performing only the procedure that has been consented to
- Addressing any serious risks, including consequences of refusing the treatment, no matter how rarely they occur
- A patient must have the opportunity to ask questions about the procedure
- When possible, a patient should be given a reasonable amount of time to process the information before giving his consent
As you can imagine, a lack of informed consent may easily lead to a patient feeling violated after a procedure. A victim may suffer the consequences of a surgeon’s decision—including a reduced earning capacity, chronic pain, and a dependence on medical assistance devices—for the rest of his life.
If someone in your family has suffered a surgical error in Louisville, we can help you seek compensation. Call Gray and White today at (800) 634-8767 or fill out the contact form on the top of this page to get a FREE consultation on your case.