Medical Malpractice Stemming from “Lack of Informed Consent” Explained/Signing a Generic Consent Form Does Not Preclude Suit

The Second Department determined that a question of fact had been raised about medical malpractice stemming from a lack of informed consent.  The plaintiff’s signing of a generic consent form did not entitle the doctor to summary judgment:

…”[L]ack of informed consent is a distinct cause of action which requires proof of facts not contemplated by an action based merely on allegations of negligence” … . A cause of action premised on a lack of informed consent “is meant to redress a failure of the person providing the professional treatment or diagnosis to disclose to the patient such alternatives thereto and the reasonably foreseeable risks and benefits involved as a reasonable medical . . . practitioner under similar circumstances would have disclosed, in a manner permitting the patient to make a knowledgeable evaluation'” … . Thus, “[t]o establish a cause of action [to recover damages] for malpractice based on lack of informed consent, [a] plaintiff must prove (1) that the person providing the professional treatment failed to disclose alternatives thereto and failed to inform the patient of reasonably foreseeable risks associated with the treatment, and the alternatives, that a reasonable medical practitioner would have disclosed in the same circumstances, (2) that a reasonably prudent patient in the same position would not have undergone the treatment if he or she had been fully informed, and (3) that the lack of informed consent is a proximate cause of the injury” … . Walker v Saint Vincent Catholic Med Ctrs, 2014 NY Slip Op 00653, 2nd Dept 2-5-14