Medical Malpractice

When Lack of Informed Consent Leads to Medical Malpractice

We rely on doctors and other medical professionals to provide us with quality care, as well as all the relevant information about treatments so that we can make choices about our care. In fact, state law requires doctors to obtain a patient's "informed consent" before performing a planned medical procedure such as surgery or special treatment for an illness. If a doctor fails to obtain this consent and the patient is injured as a result of the treatment, there may be grounds for a medical malpractice claim.

What is informed consent?

A doctor has a legal obligation to provide a patient will all the relevant information about a planned procedure or treatment. This information must be provided in plain language that the patient can understand and include a description of the procedure, risks and potential complications, alternative her treatment options, and the prognosis.

When is a patient's addiction to prescription drugs grounds for a malpractice lawsuit?

According to statistics collected nationwide, deaths from drug overdoses have risen for 11 years, tripling since 1990. Most of these fatalities result from overuse of prescription painkillers.

The vast majority of these deaths -- approximately three-quarters -- are believed to have been accidental, while others were suicides or the result of undetermined causes. Many of these cases have led to Read more . . .

A recent study shows that medical errors may be the third leading cause of non-violent death in the U.S., claiming over a quarter of a million lives. But for residents of New Jersey, finding out about deadly mistakes is now more difficult because of a recent decision by a New Jersey appellate division court.

Reports on Medical Mistakes Remain Confidential

A three-judge panel has held that hospital error reports filed with the New Jersey Department of Health after a patient injury or death are not discoverable in medical malpractice litigation.

Did you know that medical errors are now the third most common cause of death in the United States? They rank only behind heart disease and cancer, and kill an estimated 700 people per day. This is crazy! Seeking medical care should not be as scary as the illness you are seeking care for!

It is unclear what the exact rate of medical errors is here in Monmouth County, or even in New Jersey as a whole since that data is almost impossible to get a hold of. However, we do have data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on how many medical malpractice payments were made in New Jersey each year from 2004 to 2014.

A couple months ago, a gynecologist from Tenafly, New Jersey who practiced in New York City pled guilty to sexually assaulting two women he had examined. Dr. Robert Hadden admitted that he had “engaged in an act of oral sexual conduct against a patient for no valid medical purpose” and “intentionally and for no legitimate purpose forcibly touched the sexual and intimate parts of [another patient].” Hadden’s medical license has been revoked, and he must register as a sex offender, but it is still unclear whether the at least twenty women who have come forward as victims will be able to sue him in civil court for monetary damages. 

This is distressing, but it is something we see every day.