Medical Battery Attorney in Phoenix

Unauthorized Treatment & Medical Negligence Lawsuits in Arizona

Medical professionals are legally obligated to treat patients in accordance with accepted standards of their profession. A medical provider’s duty of care also requires that they obtain the informed consent of patients to ensure they understand their condition, treatment options, risks associated with treatment, and prognosis.

If a health care provider fails to obtain informed consent for non-emergency treatment and causes injury to a patient, they may be held accountable for medical negligence. Though claims of unauthorized treatment are a type of medical malpractice lawsuit, they may also be considered medical battery, or the unauthorized touching of a plaintiff’s person.

If you or someone you love were harmed due to an unauthorized treatment performed by a medical professional, you may be entitled to compensation. MayesTelles is comprised of award winning trial lawyers who can help explore your rights for filing a negligence claim over medical battery.

What Is Informed Consent?

Patients who seek care from physicians, surgeons, and other medical professionals have the right to receive appropriate medical information about their procedure.

As such, medical providers have a duty to reasonably disclose information about a patient’s:

• Medical condition
• Options and recommendations for treatment
• Potential risks associated with treatment
• Alternative treatments and risks
• Prognosis and consequences of taking no action

This information must be provided to patients in a manner they can easily understand, and must be clear and comprehensive enough for a patient to make an informed decision about their care. Minors, as well as adults with impairments that affect their competency, are unable to give their consent – though a parent or guardian may give consent on their behalf.

Many providers require patients to sign consent forms so their informed consent is recorded in writing.

Unauthorized Treatment & Medical Battery

Doctors who fail to obtain informed consent – i.e. fail to adequately explain a procedure and risks – can cause patients to suffer outcomes they did not expect, anticipate, or desire. In some cases, a lack of informed consent can result serious injuries, permanent disabilities, and life-altering repercussions.

Examples of unauthorized treatment that may give rise to medical battery claims include:

• Wrong-site surgery / operations on the wrong body part
• Amputations resulting from infection or complications during surgery
• Disability or loss of senses / bodily function resulting from treatment
• Adverse health effects caused by medications
• Disfigurement caused by a procedure or treatment

In Arizona, providers do not need to have acted intentionally in order to be held liable for medical battery. Courts have recognized that medical battery exists when a medical provider performs a procedure:

• Without a patient’s consent;
• Without properly disclosing information needed to obtain informed consent; or
• With willful disregard of a patient’s limited or conditional consent.

This means patients harmed by doctors who did not obtain informed consent for a non-emergency procedure may have the right to seek a financial recovery of their damages by pursuing claims over medical negligence – including gross negligence or medical battery resulting from unauthorized treatment.

To prove medical battery, patients must generally establish:

1. The procedure or treatment was performed without informed consent; and
2. Had the patient been adequately informed about the procedure or associated risks, they would not have chosen to undergo treatment, and would have avoided the injury.

Request a FREE Review of Your Case

Medical battery and unauthorized treatment are highly complex and fact-specific claims that require extensive investigation. At MayesTelles, our legal team draws from decades of collective experience to help clients review their potential cases, explore their rights and options, and gather the evidence to support their claims. Our firm also has the necessary resources to take on powerful medical groups, hospitals, and insurance companies that fight aggressively to dispute, deny, and underpay victims.

To request a free and confidential review of your case, call or contact us online.