Baltimore, Maryland Medical Malpractice Lawyers for Failure to Provide Informed Consent

Attorneys Addressing the Failure to Provide Patients With Information About Treatment Options in Baltimore

As a medical patient, you have the right to make decisions about your own health, medical conditions, and treatment options. The process of understanding the risks and benefits of different avenues of treatment is known as "informed consent."

This means doctors must give you information about a particular treatment or test for you to decide if you wish to proceed with the treatment or test. In essence, the doctors give you this information so that you can make an informed decision about your health. As in all states, in Maryland, a patient must give his/her voluntary, informed consent for all treatment.

Informed Consent Requirements

While there is no all-inclusive list of items that must be disclosed by a physician in order to obtain informed consent, in Maryland, there are five categories of information that will generally need to be communicated to patients:

• The risks inherent in a particular treatment
• The probability that a particular treatment will be successful
• The frequency of the occurrence of particular risks (how often do particular complications happen)
• The nature of available alternatives to treatment (what are the other options for a particular patient)
• Whether or not disclosure would be detrimental to a patient

Recently, the Supreme Court of Maryland made clear that in addition to these five categories, "other considerations" may also need to be "discussed and resolved" on a case-by-case basis, based on the materiality of that information to a patient's decision. In that case, the court found that a physician was obligated to inform the patient that he had only performed the patient's contemplated surgical procedure one time and that there were other, more experienced surgeons in the region who could perform the surgery.

In determining the proper test for measuring the scope of a physician's requirement to disclose information to a patient, Maryland courts are clear. The appropriate test is not what the physician, when exercising their medical judgment, believes that a patient should know before agreeing to a course of treatment that has been proposed, but what the particular patient needs to know in order to make an intelligent decision. That need is whatever is material to the patient's decision. A material risk, in turn, is one that a physician knows or should know would play a significant role for a reasonable person when a patient decides whether or not they want to receive a particular medical treatment, test, or other procedure.

Legal Help Addressing Issues Related to Informed Consent

Informed consent cases are difficult matters because they often boil down to a dispute between the physician and patient as to what medical information was disclosed. As a result, it is paramount that a person who believes they were not properly provided pertinent information regarding a surgical or medical procedure or test retain an attorney to investigate this matter on their behalf.

As experienced Baltimore, Maryland medical malpractice attorneys, the team at Silverman Thompson has successfully handled numerous informed consent cases. As a result, we know what to look for in the medical records and the questions to ask during litigation to try to obtain a favorable result. If you or a loved one would like a free consultation to discuss whether you were provided with the information needed to make an informed medical decision, contact us today.

Contact Our Baltimore, MD Medical Malpractice Attorneys

When you or a loved one have been affected by a medical professional's failure to provide proper information about treatment options, Silverman Thompson can help you determine your legal options and the steps you can take to try to obtain financial compensation for your injuries. Our attorneys, including Andrew G. Slutkin and Ethan S. Nochumowitz, can provide you wih the necessary representation for this important claim. Contact our Baltimore informed consent violation lawyers at 410-385-2225 to schedule a free consultation.