Your doctor should only treat you with your informed consent. Being informed means you understand all the benefits, risks, and alternatives of the available treatments. If you aren't informed, then your doctor may not hide behind your consent when a treatment goes awry, and you can sue him or her for medical malpractice. Here are three essential things your doctor must explain before treating you:
Current Medical Status
The first thing you need to understand is your current medical status, which means more than the name of the disease making you ill. For example, if you have been diagnosed with breast cancer, you ought to know the current stage of the disease (breast cancer has five stages). By this, you will also know the current size of the tumor and whether it has spread to other parts of your body.
Also, you should also know what to expect if you don't treat the disease. Will it spread further? Will it be more difficult to treat in the next stage as compared to the current one? You need all these answers to understand your current medical status.
Potential Treatments
Most treatments have their side effects. Your doctor should explain all these to you before starting any treatment regime. If the doctor treats you before explaining the risks and benefits of the treatment, then you have the right to sue him or her if you suffer the risks.
Consider the example of hormone therapy, which is a common treatment for breast cancer. It has the potential for suppressing estrogen so that no more cancer cells are produced. However, one of its serious side effects is the increased risk of cancers of the uterus. This is part of the information you should know before getting hormone therapy.
Professional Opinion of the Doctor
Most diseases act on people in different ways. You may find that a treatment technique that works for one person doesn't work so well for another, or one patient experiences severe side effects of a drug while another one only suffers mild side effects. This is why your doctor cannot pinpoint exactly what will happen when you get treatment or choose the ideal treatment alternative with a hundred percent certainty. However, due to the doctor's training and experience, he or she should give you a professional opinion regarding the course of treatment to follow.
These discussions prepare you so you can make an informed decision regarding your treatment. A medical professional who omits some information is liable for any injuries that arise as a result of this omission. Have you received treatment without giving your informed consent? Consult a medical malpractice attorney like R.J. Marzella & Associates, P.C. to understand your options.
Share21 December 2015
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