surgery without consent?

Question

Hello all, I recently had diagnostic laparoscopy done by my Obgyn to diagnose and treat possible endometriosis. While I was under, she said she thought my appendix looked slightly enlarged, so she called in another surgeon and had him take it out. I awoke and was terrified when the nurse said "you were here with Dr. Whatever to have your appendix out, right?" I thought someone had done the wrong surgery on me. A few hours later my doctor returned and explained what happened. Later that week she called me and told me the pathology report had come back, my appendix was totally normal. I had no prior pain in this area and am still hurting where my appendix was taken out. I always research my doctors carefully and am upset that I knew nothing about this other surgeon they called in. I am also upset that I am now at a much greater risk for developing chron's disease. I did not consent to this surgery with this other surgeon and had no prior symptoms of my appendix being potentially infected. Should I contact a lawyer? Thank you.

Answer

If you're having no current complications from your appendix being removed other than a little soreness, you may not have much by way of legal recourse. Still, I might be wise to contact a lawyer in your area in case complications do pop up in the future.

If you develop future complications, you may have a case for medical malpractice, or at least lack of informed consent, meaning a doctor did not provide you with enough information before performing a procedure.Although I'm not a lawyer, I believe much of this relies on whether you suffered injury or damages based on the doctor's actions.

This is a link to a page explaining informed consent. It may help clarify your situation. Good luck.

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Answer

Doctors and other healthcare practitioners are not permitted to treat a patient against his will or without his knowledge and understanding. Healthcare practitioners are required to obtain the informed consent of the patient prior to commencing each particular treatment. The failure of a doctor to obtain the patient’s informed consent is considered malpractice.

Informed consent requires more than just the patient’s permission to perform the treatment or procedure. In order to obtain the informed consent of the patient, the doctor must provide the patient with the information that a reasonable person in the situation of the patient would require to make a decision about the treatment. The doctor must also provide the patient with any additional information about the treatment that the patient requests.

The type of information that the doctor must provide to the patient includes details about the treatment or procedure itself, the expected benefits of the treatment to the patient, the possible risks and side effects of the treatment, any alternative treatments, and the consequences to the patient if the patient does not receive the treatment.

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