Long v. Jaszczak

INFORMED CONSENT

Long v. Jaszczak, Nos. 20040088,
20040089 (N.D. Oct. 18, 2004)

The
Supreme Court of North Dakota held that a hospital has no legal duty to obtain
informed consent from a patient before administering treatment, but that a
physician does. The husband of a patient who died following an allergic reaction
to an intravenous pyelogram test sued the hospital and the treating physician
for not obtaining the patient’s informed consent regarding the risk of death
associated with this procedure. The standard for informed consent is whether
a reasonable patient in the same situation would attach significance to the
specific risk posed by the treatment. The court found that even though the
risk of death from the procedure was extremely remote, it was a question for
the trier of fact as to whether a fully informed, reasonable patient would
withhold consent. As for the hospital, the court held that just because the
hospital had policies requiring the execution of an appropriate consent for
each patient, this did not create a legal duty to obtain patients’ informed
consent.