Home > Medical Malpractice > Failure to Diagnose > Obtain Informed Consent
Failure to Obtain Informed Consent
Table of Contents
Medical Malpractice Lawyers Representing Patients Throughout NYC
The injury attorneys at Jesse Minc Personal Injury Law represent people in the Greater New York City area who have been injured by a wide range of medical mistakes. These include a failure to obtain informed consent, a legal protection that gives patients the right to determine their own personal course of medical treatment and to be fully informed of all of the potential risks, complications and likely outcomes of a particular surgery, procedure or course of treatment before accepting it. Our Bronx medical malpractice lawyers understand how painful and frustrating it can be to leave a surgery or another course of medical treatment feeling worse than you did when you started it, or having suffered complications or results that you never knew were even possible that, had you been told about, would have caused you to refuse to undergo the particular course of treatment. We use insights gained from decades of combined experience in helping people get the full compensation for their injuries available under the law.
New York’s informed consent law generally requires doctors to have discussions with patients about proposed courses of treatment and to explain the risks, benefits and likely outcomes of the treatment, except when the treatment is rendered in an emergency situation. That includes describing the expected benefits and likely risks of the treatment, an explanation of the likely outcome, as well as an explanation of the alternatives (which may include the risks and benefits of undergoing no treatment at all). Patients also must be given adequate time to consider that information before deciding whether to proceed with the treatment, unless of course the situation is particularly emergent or life-threatening or if the patient is not conscious when the treatment begins (such as in an emergency room after a serious car accident). It is the doctor’s responsibility to ensure that the patient makes an informed decision, and that the patient has the information that a reasonable person would want and need to know before making such an important decision. If the doctor does not meet this responsibility by informing his or her patient of the risks, benefits and outcomes of a particular course of treatment, he or she is may be liable for any injuries that may result if a reasonable patient would have opted for a different course of treatment had they been fully informed.
Holding a Doctor Accountable for a Failure to Obtain Informed Consent
The good news for a person who is a victim of medical malpractice in the Bronx or elsewhere in New York is that you have the right to seek compensation from those responsible for your injuries. That includes money damages for related medical bills, missed wages due to time away from work, and any reduction in your future earning capacity stemming from the injury. You can also seek additional compensation for pain, suffering, and emotional distress in many cases. If a patient dies as a result of malpractice, his or her spouse has the right under state law to seek compensation for the wrongful death of their loved one.
To successfully sue for a failure to obtain informed consent, you need to show that your doctor did not fully inform you of all of the risks, benefits, likely outcomes and alternative treatments relating to a particular course of treatment, that you were injured as a result of that failure, and that a reasonable person would have both required the information of which you were deprived in making your decision to undergo the treatment and that a reasonable person would have opted for a different course of treatment had they been fully informed.
A doctor does not, for example, need to tell you about each and every remotely possible alternative to a certain course of treatment. The doctor does, however, need to make you aware of those risks, benefits, likely outcomes and alternative courses of treatment that are reasonable and foreseeable. The same goes for the benefits and potential risks associated with the treatment. An important question is whether a reasonable doctor in the same circumstances would have identified other alternatives to treatment or pointed out additional benefits and risks. The key legal question, however, is whether a reasonable patient would have made a different choice had they been fully informed.
You also need to establish that you were injured by the lack of informed consent. That may mean showing that a reasonable person would not have gone ahead with the treatment if he or she had been fully aware of the risks and the alternatives, or that the outcome would have been different (and better) if an alternative course of treatment had been followed. It also means showing that you were injured by the course of treatment or that you would have been better off opting for an alternative treatment or medication.
Seek Assistance from a Medical Negligence Lawyer in the Bronx
At Jesse Minc Personal Injury Law, our Bronx attorneys understand how to build the strongest possible cases for people who have been deprived of the right to provide informed consent by a doctor. Our attorneys have been successful in court or at the negotiating table in more than 95 percent of our cases. We make sure that each client gets the personalized attention that he or she deserves. You should not need to go through a series of paralegals and other staff to talk to your attorney. We offer free consultations and can assist victims of medical malpractice in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties. We generally do not charge a fee in our medical malpractice cases unless we are successful. Call us at (718) 354-8000 or contact us online to schedule a free initial consultation to discuss a claim arising from a failure to obtain informed consent or another form of malpractice, such as a misdiagnosis of a medical condition. Se habla espanol.
Contact Us Now
