Informed Consent: What Doctors Are Required to Tell You
Before a doctor performs a procedure, prescribes a treatment, or recommends surgery, they’re legally and ethically required to do more than just tell you what they plan to do. They need to make sure you understand it—and that you’ve agreed to it.
This is the principle of informed consent, and when it’s violated, it can form the basis of a medical malpractice claim.
What is informed consent?
Informed consent is the process by which a healthcare provider discloses the information a patient needs to make a voluntary, educated decision about their care. It’s not just a signature on a form; it’s a meaningful conversation that’s meant to give patients the information they need to act in their own best interests.
What are doctors required to tell you?
Under informed consent doctrine, physicians are required to disclose:
- The nature of the procedure/treatment. What it involves and how it will be performed.
- Material risks. Complications that a reasonable patient would consider significant.
- The expected benefits. What the treatment is intended to accomplish.
- Available alternatives. Other treatment options, including the option of no treatment.
- The consequences. What’s likely to happen if the patient chooses not to proceed.
What informed consent is NOT
A signed consent form is not proof that informed consent was properly obtained. If a patient was rushed through paperwork, not given the opportunity to ask questions, or wasn’t told about a known and significant risk that later materialized, the form offers little legal protection for the provider.
Informed consent also cannot be obtained under duress, from a patient who lacks the capacity to understand the information, or in a language the patient doesn’t speak without proper interpretation.
When does a failure of informed consent become malpractice?
Not every undisclosed risk constitutes malpractice. The legal standard typically asks whether a reasonable patient, if fully informed, would have declined the procedure or chosen a different course of treatment—and whether the undisclosed risk is the one that caused the harm.
When a patient suffers an injury from a risk they were never told about, and would have made a different decision had they known, the failure to obtain proper informed consent may give rise to a legitimate legal claim.
The Law Offices of Tim Misney can help you with your medical malpractice claim. If a doctor’s failure to inform you of the risks cost you your health, I’ll Make Them Pay!® Call my office at (877) 614-9524 so I can evaluate your case right away.
