A failure to obtain the informed consent of a patient is a serious error on the part of a medical professional. It can lead to those patients experiencing harm they would have otherwise avoided.
In this guide we’ll examine what informed consent is and why it matters, how failing to obtain that consent can cause harm you could claim compensation for and explain the duty of care owed by medical professionals no matter their level of experience or title.
You will also find some information on the type of No Win No Fee contract offered by our dedicated medical negligence solicitors.
To find out if you’re eligible to make a medical negligence claim or to ask any questions about the claims process, talk to our advisors using the contact details given here:
- Begin your claim online.
Select A Section
- What Is Informed Consent?
- Can I Claim Compensation For A Failure To Obtain Informed Consent?
- Can I Claim If I’ve Signed A Consent Form?
- How Do I Know If I Can Claim For A Failure To Obtain Informed Consent?
- Read More About Claiming Compensation For Negligent Medical Treatment
What Is Informed Consent?
According to the NHS, consent to treatment requires 3 things:
- Voluntary: The decision regarding treatment must be the patient’s and not influenced by staff, family members or friends.
- Informed: Patients should be given enough information regarding the treatment, including the risks, any alternatives, and what could happen if the treatment is not administered.
- Capacity: The patient must have the mental capacity to understand the information provided and be able to make their own decision.
Obtaining informed consent to proceed with proposed treatment and medical procedures is an important aspect of the medical professional’s duty of care. Across both public and private healthcare settings, medical professionals must provide care that meets the correct standard.
In order to claim compensation following a failure to obtain informed consent, you will need to show the following:
- A medical professional owed you a duty of care.
- They breached this duty by not obtaining your informed consent, thus failing to provide the correct standard of care.
- This failure resulted in you experiencing avoidable harm.
The term “avoidable harm” means harm caused by the medical professional that would not have happened had they given you the correct standard of care. To find out if you’re eligible to make a medical negligence compensation claim, contact our advisors today.
Can I Claim Compensation For A Failure To Obtain Informed Consent?
Here we’ve provided a few examples of substandard medical treatment you could potentially seek compensation for. This information is only a guide, and to find out if you can claim in your specific circumstances, contact our advisors today.
Examples of a medical professional’s failure to obtain informed consent causing avoidable harm include:
- Your consent form for abdominal surgery did not have all the possible risks of the procedure set out. During the operation, a surgical error caused significant injury to your liver. You would not have decided on surgery if you had known the risks involved.
- You were not informed that treatment options other than surgery were available. The unnecessary surgery caused significant scarring and considerable pain.
- Doctors put you under general anaesthetic when the procedure could have been done with local pain deadening. This causes you to suffer an adverse reaction to the drugs. You would not have had a general anaesthetic had you known a local anaesthetic was available.
To get a free assessment of your eligibility and to find out more about medical malpractice claims, speak to our advisors using the contact information given above.
Can I Claim If I’ve Signed A Consent Form?
Yes. Signing a consent form does not mean that the consent you gave was informed. For example, the risks of knee surgery may not have been adequately explained to you. You signed the form, and then during the surgery, your knee joint was badly damaged in a way that you were not informed could occur.
You may have also not been told exactly what side effects medication following a surgical procedure would have. So, if you signed a consent form but there was a failure to obtain informed consent, contact our advisors for a free eligibility assessment today.
How Do I Know If I Can Claim For A Failure To Obtain Informed Consent?
To find out if you can claim for avoidable harm caused by a failure to obtain informed consent before a medical procedure, contact our advisors for a free eligibility assessment. If eligible, you could then be connected with one of our solicitors.
While you are not legally required to have a solicitor represent you, having a trained legal professional working on your case will be of great help. A solicitor could help you gather evidence, explain all the legal jargon and ensure clear communication is maintained with the defendant’s representatives.
The Conditional Fee Agreement
Our solicitors can offer their specialist services on a strictly No Win No Fee basis with a contract called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). By instructing a solicitor under this agreement, you will benefit from:
- No fees payable to the solicitor to begin work on the claim.
- No fees for that work done by the solicitor as the case progresses.
- Lastly, if the claim does not succeed, there will be no solicitor’s fees to pay.
If your case is successful and medical negligence compensation recovered, the solicitor will take a success fee from the compensation. However, as The Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013 caps these fees on a percentage basis, you will keep most of any compensation that is paid out.
To find out if you’re eligible to make a medical negligence claim or to ask any questions about the claims process, talk to our advisors using the contact details given here:
- Begin your claim online.
Read More About Claiming Compensation For Negligent Medical Treatment
You can read some of our medical negligence guides here:
- Read our guide to making a misdiagnosis claim here.
- Learn more about making a fatal negligence claim with this guide.
- See if you could claim compensation for a hospital acquired infection by reading our guidance on the topic and contacting our advisory team.
We have also provided these external resources for additional information:
- Read about the standards for good medical practice for doctors from the General Medical Council.
- Find out more about the duty of care owed by nurses from the Royal College of Nursing.
- Learn about the standards of care surgeons are expected to meet with this resource from the Royal College of Surgeons.
Thank you for reading our guide to making a medical negligence claim for failure to obtain informed consent. Get your free eligibility assessment today by calling our advisory team on the number above.