The Role of Consent in Medical Procedures and Malpractice

When you go to a doctor or hospital, you trust that they’ll explain what they’re doing and why. In fact, you usually give them permission to perform the operation you expect and have discussed. So how do medical malpractice and consent relate to each other?

When a medical procedure happens without your full understanding or permission, it’s not just wrong—it could be medical malpractice. So let’s talk about what consent really means and how it plays a big role in medical mistakes.

What Is Informed Consent?

Informed consent means that your doctor or healthcare provider clearly explains:

  • What the procedure is
  • Why it’s being done
  • What the risks are
  • What other options might be available

It also means you have a chance to ask questions and make your own decision—without feeling rushed or pressured. Simply signing a form doesn’t necessarily mean you truly gave consent. You need to understand what’s going to happen before you agree to it.

When Lack of Consent Becomes Malpractice

If a doctor performs a procedure without your full and informed consent, and you’re harmed as a result, that could be medical malpractice. Some examples include:

  • A surgery you didn’t agree to
  • A risk that wasn’t explained, which later caused serious problems
  • A treatment done on your child without your permission

In these cases, you weren’t given the chance to make an informed choice—and that’s a violation of your rights.

Special Rules for Children

When the patient is a child, the responsibility for giving consent usually falls to a parent or legal guardian. Sometimes families don’t even know their child’s treatment involved certain risks or that the whole procedure could have been avoided.

If your child was hurt because a doctor didn’t fully explain the situation or didn’t ask for permission, you may have a strong medical malpractice claim.

Problems with Consent in a Digital Era

In addition, modern technology has created a number of problems for getting proper consent before a medical procedure.

These days, a lot of hospitals and medical centers will shove a tablet in your face before you ever see a doctor. They’ll give you a bunch of forms, all digital on the tablet and all extremely easy to sign with just the push of a button. And just like with the “terms of agreement” you’ll see when signing up for a new app, these contracts are extremely dense and nearly impossible for a normal person to understand.

In these cases, there’s a precedent for courts to say you haven’t actually consented. Judges realize you need to be able to understand what you sign instead of being given pages and pages of legalese.

If you’re in this situation and have questions, our attorneys are happy to help.

DarrellLegal Help with Medical Malpractice and Consent Questions

If you believe a doctor failed to get proper consent before treating you and it led to an injury, you don’t have to handle it alone. Our medical malpractice lawyers can help you understand your rights, gather evidence, and fight for the compensation you deserve.

We fight for you with the full force of our award-winning team, and we can help you recover for your losses, including:

  • hospital expenses
  • physical therapy expenses
  • ongoing and future medical care
  • lost wages
  • pain and suffering
  • and more.

In addition, we don’t win anything less until we win your case. So you can safely reach out and get some answers to your questions, no strings attached.

Consent isn’t just a formality—it’s your right. You deserve to be fully informed before any medical decision is made. If that didn’t happen, and you were harmed, it may be time to take action. I’m here to listen, answer your questions, and help you every step of the way.

To get started, contact us online today or give us a call at 901-327-2100. We look forward to helping you.