Patients have the right to receive information and ask questions about recommended treatments so that they can make well-considered decisions about care. Successful communication between the patient and the physician is key to the shared decision making process regarding whether a patient should submit to a medical/surgical procedure. Doctors will give you information about a particular treatment or test in order for you to decide whether or not you wish to undergo a treatment or test. This process of understanding the risks and benefits, and alternatives to treatment is known as informed consent and it is fundamental in the ethical practice of medicine.
The process of informed consent occurs when communication between a patient and physician results in the patient’s authorization or agreement to undergo a specific medical intervention. In seeking a patient’s informed consent (or the consent of the patient’s surrogate if the patient lacks decision-making capacity or declines to participate in making decisions), physicians should:
-Assess the patient’s ability to understand relevant medical information and the implications of treatment alternatives and to make an independent, voluntary decision.
-Present relevant information accurately. The physician should include information about:
a. The diagnosis or differential diagnosis (list of possible causes for your signs, symptoms or complaints);
b. The nature and purpose of recommended treatment/procedure
c. The risks, and expected benefits of the proposed treatment and the alternatives to treatment, including forgoing treatment.
Know that you as the patient have the right to make decisions about your own health and medical conditions. You must give your voluntary, informed consent for treatment and for most medical tests and procedures. For more invasive tests and surgical procedures with significant risks or alternatives, you will be asked to give explicit (written) consent. Take your time reading the consent form presented to you and ask questions about anything you do not fully understand.
In a medical malpractice case, the claims arise out of (1) the defendant’s carelessness and negligence, and (2) lack of informed consent. If a jury determines that an informed consent was obtained, the jury may still find that the patient did not receive good and accepted medical care and treatment. To learn more about Medical Malpractice and how Sanocki Newman & Turret, LLP can help you with your case, visit our webpage.
Sanocki Newman & Turret has recently been successful in representing clients who have undergone procedures including a colonoscopy and a hysterectomy, who sustained perforations to their colon/bowel. While a bowel perforation may be considered a risk to colonoscopy, hysterectomy or other abdominal surgery, the failure to timely recognize a perforation of the bowel, or the nature of the perforation or the size of the bowel perforation, may mean the patient has not received good and accepted medical care and treatment, and that medical malpractice has occurred, often with devastating subsequent required surgeries and consequential injuries.
If you have sustained an injury during a surgical procedure or post operatively, contact Sanocki Newman & Turret so that we can evaluate your potential medical malpractice lawsuit. You can call us at (212) 962-1190 or click here to email info@sntlawfirm.com.