Your autonomy over your body is a fundamental right—even in life-and-death situations. Doctors typically cannot perform any procedure on you without your agreement or the consent of someone authorized to act on your behalf.
If you’ve undergone a medical procedure in Chicago, IL without providing informed consent, you may have the right to seek compensation. The negligent party should have to pay for any suffering you’ve endured. Our Chicago medical malpractice lawyers at JusticeRx can help.
Contact our law office or call (312) 705 2863 to schedule a free consultation. We’ll review your case, discuss the legal options available to you, and show you how we can help. With our contingency fee payment structure, you owe us no attorney’s fees unless we’re able to secure a financial award on your behalf.
How Can JusticeRx Help If You Were Injured Due to Lack of Informed Consent?
The law requires that you receive the necessary information to make informed decisions about your medical care. If you’re denied the chance to make an informed choice, your healthcare provider may be held accountable for medical malpractice.
Handling such cases can be challenging and complex. Establishing the consent standards and determining whether you would have agreed to a procedure had you been fully aware of the risks can be tricky. This is why consulting a skilled Chicago medical malpractice attorney is essential.
At JusticeRx, we bring decades of experience to the fields of law and medicine, including medical malpractice cases involving informed consent.
If you choose us to represent you in your medical malpractice case in Chicago, Illinois, we will take care of the following:
- Investigate to understand exactly what happened
- Review critical evidence
- Speak to witnesses
- Consult leading medical experts
- Calculate your damages
- Handle the medical malpractice claim process
- Negotiate for a fair settlement offer
- Represent you at trial should your case go to court
Let us review your case during a free consultation. We can discuss what went wrong in your situation and help you understand your legal options.
What Is Informed Consent?
When someone makes unwelcome physical contact with your body, it might be considered a criminal offense, regardless of their intentions. They could also face a personal injury lawsuit if this unwanted contact results in any harm.
Even when a doctor provides treatment to a patient, it’s still crucial to avoid unnecessary physical contact. Each patient maintains the legal right to make decisions about their own body.
When a doctor is about to perform a procedure, the patient must receive details about the process and possible outcomes. This allows the patient to make an informed choice about whether to give their consent.
A patient can only give informed consent if they fully understand the procedure and are aware of the potential risks. If a doctor recommends surgery without adequately explaining the associated risks, the patient cannot truly provide informed consent.
A doctor’s good intentions don’t excuse them from fulfilling the responsibility of informing and educating the patient and obtaining their permission before administering treatment.
How Do You Prove a Lack of Informed Consent?
A patient has the right to take legal action against a doctor for lack of informed consent under the following circumstances:
- The doctor had a duty to tell the patient about significant risks associated with the procedure or treatment
- The doctor didn’t properly disclose and explain these risks
- The patient agreed to treatment they wouldn’t have otherwise consented to if they had known the risks
- The patient suffered harm due to the treatment
Proving these elements in an informed consent case can be tough.
Determining if the doctor had a duty and didn’t meet it involves a consideration of legal standards and industry practices regarding a particular treatment. For instance, if it’s common to explain that a certain procedure could heighten the risk of a heart attack, a doctor who skips this detail might be seen as failing to fulfill their duty.
In other situations, informed consent may not be necessary. For example, in an emergency, when a patient can’t give consent but urgently needs life-saving care, it’s fair to assume the patient would have consented to lifesaving measures.
Understanding the type of procedure can help determine if a patient would have consented with full information. For instance, if surgery was the only way to save a life, most people would likely accept the treatment despite the risks. However, that might not be the case for an elective cosmetic procedure.
Finally, the injured patient has to show that harm directly resulted from the doctor’s failure to get consent. It can sometimes be tricky to distinguish harm from the patient’s existing medical conditions versus harm due to treatment without proper consent.
Contact a Medical Malpractice Lawyer To Discuss Your Lack of Informed Consent Case
If you are the victim of medical malpractice involving a lack of informed consent, a skilled attorney from JusticeRx can help.
We understand the complexities of medical malpractice cases and know how to get results. Having our accomplished team in your corner can make all the difference in the outcome of your case.
Contact our medical malpractice attorneys in Chicago today to schedule a free consultation.