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 Medical Surgeries, Diagnosis and Related Issues One thing is clear about informed consent problems in malpractice cases. If they arise, you are probably considering or already involved in a lengthy, protracted and almost certainly ugly lawsuit. If you can prevent these from arising by taking certain steps, you will be in a much better situation. Can they be prevented? The answer is not always, but in some cases. Take the example of the elderly parent. If you take certain actions to establish certain legally recognized and properly drafted documents, you can specify provisions giving instructions on what to do about the informed consent issue if it were ever to arise. This would be done by the elderly person, before they became incompetent, and would be a legally binding document. Provisions could be drafted by an attorney that would specify how the person desired physicians, hospitals and family members to act in the event the elderly person became mentally incompetent and this issue arose. Normally, one of the most attractive legal documents is a Durable Power of Attorney For Healthcare. Remember too, that mental incompetence is not just something that "might or might not happen to me". It can happen to a 40 year old perfectly healthy person who is seriously injured in a car accident. In a flash, all of these items become monumental obstacles for a family to deal with amidst dealing with the grief and nonlegal issues. You can prevent these problems by discussing them in advance with an attorney. What about the child who suffered a hemorrhaging brain injury? What could have been done in advance? Several things, although none may be absolutely perfect. One would be to discuss, with an attorney, whether your state has any document or legal method by which to designate a person or persons, if you are not present, who could give such consent. Normally your parents or brothers or sisters, if they can be located, might be enough for the hospital to obtain informed consent. But what if you do not particularly want your family members making these decisions, or more likely, what if there is a disagreement between your father and your spouse's mother? Both are in the emergency room, time is critical and something must be done. How would you feel if your spouse's parent made a decision with which you did not agree? Instead, you and your spouse can decide together, in advance, how to handle this situation or other related situations. Lawyers can propose all types of mechanisms by which this situation can be handled in accordance with your state's laws. The key is to handle this matter in a detached, non-emergency manner beforehand in order to prevent this emergency legal confusion from arising. There will be enough medical and emotional confusion in this type of child brain injury emergency.
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