In a personal injury case, the term informed consent means:
- You have to be given clear medical information about your treatment—including the risks, benefits, and alternatives—before you agree to it.
Informed consent is one of the most fundamental parts of your medical care. But the reason it’s so important for your personal injury claim is because—at some point—you’re going to have to convince an insurance company that your medical bills come out of treatment that’s related to your injuries–not just what a doctor thinks. For help understanding this and other legal terms, reach out to our California personal injury lawyers for a free consultation.
How Can I Convince an Insurance Company of Informed Consent in a Personal Injury Case?
When it comes to your medical care, an insurance company is going to want to know a few things to figure out whether or not there’s a connection to the accident and that they have to pay your bills. That’s why informed consent is so important, but to actually convince the insurance company of it, you’re going to have to show that things were explained to you and information was shared before treatment ever started. You can show that by providing:
- Medical records
- Signed consent forms
- Notes showing what a doctor talked through with you
Sometimes it also helps to hear directly from the providers involved, or from an expert who can explain what most patients should reasonably be told in that situation. The real question is simple: did you actually have enough information to make a meaningful choice?
Why Is Informed Consent Necessary in a Personal Injury Case?
Informed consent exists for one basic reason—you deserve to understand what’s happening to your body before you agree to treatment. In an injury case, that understanding can make a big difference. It helps show:
- Whether a bad outcome was a known risk you accepted, or something that caught you completely off guard because it was never explained.
When informed consent is missing or unclear, it raises questions about accountability. It also helps draw the line between complications that can happen even with good care and harm that could have been avoided with better communication.
Talk Through What Happened With Maison Law
With a personal injury claim, you have enough to worry about without also trying to untangle your medical treatment and how it’s impacting your case. That’s where our team at Maison Law can step in and help. We always:
- Make sure your medical treatment is documented in the right way.
- Help you gather the right records and documentation to prove your injuries and how they’re related to the accident.
- Handle all the talks with insurance companies and their adjusters. We’ll explain to them why your treatment is necessary and that the insurance company should help you pay for it.
If you’ve been hurt in an accident in California, and need help sorting through all the confusion, set up a free consultation with our team today.
