Question 1:Available
data on risk of being named as a defendant in malpractice litigations
suggests:
The
more obvious and undisputed the medical negligence, the greater the risk of
suit by the patient;
Physicians
who receive training from prestigious institutions who are well-trained are
less likely to be named in a suit;
Patients
who are the victims of true malpractice more often than not bring claims and
suits;
Patients
with complications following treatment who feel devalued by their physicians
and perceive poor communications with their physicians are more
likely to sue, regardless of whether malpractice actually occurred.
Question 2:
Informed
Consent requires disclosing to the patient:
Those
risks and alternatives which reasonable physicians, in their usual and
customary practice, decide should or ought to be disclosed to
patients;
The
risks which are described in respected medical literature and which are
known by a majority of practitioners in the field in question;
Those
risks which are disclosed on the printed consent form which the patient
must sign;
Those
risks and reasonable alternatives which a reasonable patient would regard
as material to making his or her decision as to whether to undergo the
procedure in question.
Question 3:The issue for the jury in determining "standard of care", by
which the presence or absence of malpractice is defined, is:
Whether
the defendant health care provider acted reasonable and carefully under
the circumstances then existing, given the level of training and
experience of that particular health care provider;
Whether
the defendant health care provider acted in accordance with the norms and
standards commonly practiced within the particular geographical locality
of the defendant health care provider;
Whether
the patient complied with and followed instructions of his/her physician
in the care rendered by the defendant physician;
Dependent
on whether the plaintiff's lawyer has successfully avoided talking about
the real medical issues, while simulating lacrimation during his summation
to the jury.
