Signing a consent form in and of itself does not waive your rights. It is possible that the consent form does not contain all of the relevant information that it should or it may have been signed without adequate explanation. Even if you signed a consent form, you did not consent to substandard medical care. A doctor`s failure to meet the acceptable standard of care is not the same as consenting to the normal risks of a procedure.
When a claimant contends that a medical care provider failed to supply adequate information to obtain informed consent, the claimant must prove that the treatment was rendered in other than an emergency situation and that the medical care provider did not supply that type of information as would customarily have been given to a patient by other medical care providers with similar training and experience at the time of the treatment. In determining whether the plaintiff has satisfied these requirements, the following matters shall also be considered: (1) whether a person of ordinary intelligence and awareness in a similar position could reasonably be expected to know of the risks or hazards inherent in such treatment; (2) whether the patient knew of the risks or hazard inherent in such treatment; (3) whether the injured party would have undergone the treatment regardless of the risk involved or whether he did not wish to be informed thereof; and (4) whether it was reasonable for the medical care provider to limit disclosure of information because such disclosure could be expected to adversely and substantially affect the injured person`s condition.
