Every patient is entitled to receive every piece of information about their illness, the complete treatment plan, and the risks involved with the treatment. It is the Doctor’s responsibility to inform the patient at every stage. The patient can then decide whether he wants the treatment or not. A Miami medical malpractice lawyer can help you deal if there is any discrepancy. In this blog, we will discuss the Role of Informed Consent in Medical Malpractice in Miami-
What is an Informed Consent
Risks are involved with almost every Medical Treatment. It is the Doctors responsibility to provide all the relevant information about your case, including the risks involved. Taking a patient’s agreement to a treatment procedure is called Informed Consent. Sometimes verbal Consent is taken, but Written Consent duly signed by the patient is best for both the patient and the Doctor.
Risk to be disclosed in Consent
The Doctor must inform about the associated risks of the treatment or patient illness beforehand, Risks such as paralysis of a limb after surgery, swelling at the surgery area, numbness in the area, and should tell death risk to the patient before the procedure.
Consent not Required
There are certain Exceptions to the Informed Consent rule, like in the case of Emergencies. If the patient is emotionally weak and cannot make the right decision for himself, then informed Consent is not required. If the patient is anxious about the treatment, the Doctor can tell about the risks involved in a restricted manner.
Response of an average person to consent
If informed consent is not taken and the Doctor performs the treatment, then the patient can claim medical malpractice. In such a case, a regular patient with the same medical history and conditions gets asked for his opinion on whether he would have taken the treatment or not after being informed. The decision of the claim gets based on that normal patient response.
Deviation from the Informed Consent
If the Doctor, after taking the informed Consent, if Doctor deviates from the Consent, then the patient or his family can claim medical malpractice. For example, if the Doctor told the patient about one treatment but started two treatments without informing, this falls under medical malpractice due to lack of informed Consent.
Conclusion
The right to information is the fundamental right of every individual. If the Doctor deviates from this fundamental right, then you can claim medical malpractice. Be cautious and ask your Doctor all the questions. You can consult an Attorney depending on the Medical Malpractice and its extent.