Filing a Medical Malpractice Claim Even Though You Signed An Informed Consent Document
A signed informed consent document does not automatically make a medical professional immune to liability. Certain conditions can allow a plaintiff to hold a medical professional accountable for his or her injuries, even in the presence of an informed consent document. But as you surely know, the various medical fields are incredibly complex, and the specific decisions that go into determining a course of medical treatment are over the head of most juries (and most patients, despite the informed consent document). To address this complexity, the courts apply three standards to a medical malpractice claim: the reasonable physician standard, the subjective patient standard, and the reasonable person standard.
The reasonable physician standard simply concerns what any reasonable physician would tell a patient about a proposed procedure. The medical provider is responsible for telling a patient everything about a proposed procedure as dictated by the reasonable physician standard. This allows a jury to determine whether or not the medical professional provided enough general information about the procedure in an informed consent document. More on this website
The subjective patient standard concerns the details that the specific patient in question would likely want to know about the proposed procedure. Each patient has unique concerns, and medical professionals have a responsibility to know enough about their patients to provide them with these details. Obviously, this standard is not easy to apply, and it must be extensively investigated on a case-by-case basis.
The reasonable person standard considers whether or not a typical, reasonable person would have consented to the proposed procedure, given the information that the plaintiff had about the procedure when the informed consent document was signed.
The standards set in some of these elements rely largely on expert witness testimony from medical professionals in the defendant’s field. Our attorneys can make sure your case has the witness testimony it needs to prove that were the victim of negligence.
When the above standards are not met, someone hurt due to a medical professional’s negligence can file a medical malpractice claim, even though he or she signed an informed consent document. Applying these standards to a case is not easy for someone without extensive experience, but thankfully, the attorneys at our Law Office have been helping victims of medical malpractice for twenty years. We have successfully investigated hundreds of cases, and we are intimately familiar with the laws and regulations surrounding medical malpractice claims. Insurance companies and healthcare providers know who we are, and how successful we have been. In many cases, they cooperate fully with our settlement demands so that we can secure a fair settlement without even taking your case to court.
In other words, our legal professionals will work hard to get you back on your feet as painlessly as possible. So if you have been hurt due to the negligence of a medical professional, do not let that negligence go unpunished just because you signed an informed consent document. Contact aggressive medical malpractice attorneys at our Law Office today, and let our firm help you seek the fair settlement you need and the justice you deserve.