Gross Negligence And Lack Of Informed Consent
Gross Negligence and Informed consent cases are very hard to win because most health care providers usually ask patients to sign a very detailed consent form before examination so it is quite difficult for patient to prove that they were not in agreement with the procedure and did not know about any risk involved.
In terms of medical malpractice, “the phrase "gross negligence" means reckless conduct or mistaken conduct so much as to allow even the lay person without any medical training to view it as obvious. Gross negligence is when a operating surgeon amputates the wrong leg or leaves a surgical instrument in the body of a patient.
There are some States that will allow an individual like that to pursue medical malpractice to prove their case in court without any expert witnesses being present at trial. This is what you would call "Res ipsa loquitur," which means “things that speak for themselves,” and can prove that the doctor was negligent in performing his duties admirably to the patient.
A Medical Malpractice Lawyer/Attorney usually represents a case that constitutes the Unauthorized Treatment and Lack of “Informed Consent”. By express statute or common law, mostly all States recognize the right to get information about ones medical condition during a malpractice lawsuit as well as the choices of treatment that the patient chose, the risk involved with the treatment and how everything will turn out.
The information received from the attending physician to the patient must be in simple terms for everyone to understand and enough information that will help to make an “informed decision” about the care that the patient received.
When the patient goes to the doctor and asked to sign a consent form, they are required to read the information given as long as the doctor provides easy to understand information. At this point, it is presumed that the patient has given an “informed consent.” If a doctor does not get the informed consent form signed by the patient to perform a non-emergency treatment, this may be considered grounds for civil or criminal action like the unauthorized touching of a patient.
If the patient is to win the case of unauthorized touching, the patient has to prove that the doctor treated him or her without “informed consent” and that he or she knew of the risk involved in not signing the informed consent form.
Info™ State Medical Malpractice Information: