Halifax Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog

Medical Malpractice can happen in two ways:

1. Negligence is when your doctor causes an injury because he or she failed to meet the standard expected of a reasonably competent physician;

2. Assault and Battery happens when your doctor does not have your informed consent to perform the medical procedure that caused your injury.

Consent to Medical Treatment:

Everyone has a legal right to decided what can be done with his or her own body. Lawyers refer to this right as autonomy.

What that means, in plain language, is that your doctor needs your permission (the legal term is informed consent) before your doctor can treat you.

What is Informed Consent?:

You can only give valid permission if you are provided with all of the information necessary to make an informed decision about your proposed medical treatment.

For example, assume you have the following conversation with your doctor:

Doctor: “I want to perform surgery on your leg. Do I have your consent?”

Patient: “Um…why do you want to do the surgery?”

Doctor: “Because it will stop the pain in your leg. Do I have your consent?”

Patient: "You can do anything you want as long as it stops the pain!

Patients Just Want to Be Cured

Many patients are concerned about curing or fixing the problem, illness or pain that brought them to the doctor in the first place. So when their doctor tells them that the proposed medical treatment will cure the problem, many patients simply agree without asking further questions.

What are the Consequences?

However, in order to give proper informed consent you must be able to understand the reasonable and foreseeable consequences of giving your permission, or not giving your permission, for the medical procedure.

What Shoud your Doctor Tell You?

It is generally accepted that in order to provide proper permission for medical treatment, your doctor must explain:

• The nature of the proposed medical procedure;

• The reasonable alternatives to the proposed medical procedure; and

• The relevant risks, benefits, and uncertainties related to each alternative.

How Do You Give Permission?

Your permission or consent may be expressed in words or implied by your actions. For example, when you are undergoing a surgical procedure your doctor will usually get you to sign a consent form as part of the consent process to confirm your permission to perform the medical procedure.

No Permission = Assault

Any medical procedure that is performed without proper informed consent is considered to be an assault. The doctor who performed the medical procedure will be responsible for any injury suffered by the patient in the course of the medical procedure.

He Said - She Said

Unfortunately, it is often difficult to win medical malpractice cases involving allegations of informed consent. Often the question of whether the risks were properly explained to the patient boils down to the doctor’s word against the patient.

Ask Questons - Make Notes!

Therefore, it is important to document the consent process by asking lots of questions and making notes of any discussions you have with your doctor before you undergo a medical procedure. Particularly, any discussion you have with your doctor about the risks, benefits and alternatives of the proposed medical procedure.

Technorati Profile

Continue reading " What Does Informed Consent Have To Do With My Nova Scotia Medical Malpractice Claim? " »

24,000 Canadians Die Each Year Due to Adverse Events

The Canadian Medical Association Journal has reported that each year more than 87,000 patients experience an adverse event and as many as 24,000 patients die each year due to adverse events (doctor’s code words for a bad result or a mistake).

Medication Errors a Huge Problem

The CMAJ study found that 24% of preventable adverse events were due to medication errors.

New Program in N.S. to Identify Errors

Now an innovative program being implemented in Nova Scotia is helping to identify and prevent medication errors. The program, called SafetyNET is tracking and reporting mistakes that could have sent the wrong medication or the wrong dose to a patient.

The study being conducted by 13 pharmacies across Nova Scotia is keeping track of errors and anonymously reporting them online.

Not Required to Report Errors

Surprisingly, there is no requirement for pharmacies to report medication errors. Furthermore, there are no national standards or reporting systems in place to determine how many prescription errors happen across Canada each year.

However, the SafetyNET study has identified a number of potential problems that may lead to medication error including:

Illegible handwriting by the doctor writing the prescription; Incorrect drug strengths; Medication that is inappropriate because it may react with other medication that the patient is taking; Mix ups between drugs that sound similar (for example Losec and Lasix).

Don’t Get Your Prescription Filled on Monday

The study also pinpointed when most errors were made. One of the pharmacies participating in the study indicated that the majority of errors happened on Mondays between lunch time and 5:00 pm.

National Reporting System Required

I applaud the efforts of Nova Scotia’s pharmacists to improve the quality of services they are providing to their customers. Medication errors are a significant cause of disability and death and anything that could be done to reduce the number of medication errors is an effort that needs to be supported.

The next step, of course, is the implementation of national reporting standards. However, given that pharmacist are provincially regulated, one has to wonder whether there will be any support for such a broad based national initiative.

What do you think?

Continue reading " New Program Helps Prevent Medication/Prescription Errors " »