MEDICAL MALPRACTICE (NEGLIGENCE) LITIGATION

Duty on the part of a hospital and doctor to obtain prior consent of a patient

There exists a duty to obtain prior consent (with respect to living patients) for the purpose of diagnosis, treatment, organ transplant, research purposes, disclosure of medical records, and teaching and medico-legal purposes. With respect to the dead in regard to pathological post mortem, medico-legal post mortem, organ transplant (for legal heirs), and for disclosure of medical record, it is important that informed consent of the patient is obtained. Consent can be given in the following ways:

Express Consent: It may be oral or in writing. Though both these categories of consents are of equal value, written consent can be considered as superior because of its evidential value.
Implied Consent: Implied consent may be implied by patient's conduct.
Tacit Consent: Tacit consent means implied consent understood without being stated.
Surrogate consent: This consent is given by family members. Generally, courts have held that consent of family members with the written approval of 2 physicians sufficiently protects a patient's interest.
Advance consent, proxy consent, and presumed consent are also used. While the term advance consent is the consent given by patient in advance, proxy consent indicates consent given by an authorized person. As mentioned earlier, informed consent obtained after explaining all possible risks and side effects is superior to all other forms of consent.

As medical negligence litigation attorneys, we help all our clients who find themselves being affected by the breach of a medical duty

What Do We Do?

Due to the high volume of clinical or medical malpractice situations in South Africa, most people ensure that they have many protections in place in the form of knowledgeable defence attorneys. Accordingly, you require the illustration of a similarly skilled legal professional to obtain a good settlement, MWIM Attorneys can help you to prove and quantify malpractice ensuing in damage to yourself or your loved one. Such damage flows from surgical error, misdiagnosis or different negligent practice.

When you choose our law firm, we will get all of your medical records and review them to see if a medical error or mistake caused a serious injury or death. We will also consult and send to the medical expert with highly respected board-certified physicians and medical experts for medical-examination.

If we can prove that you or someone you care about was the victim of medical negligence, we will file a lawsuit for you. Malpractice lawsuits seek settlements for patients harmed by medical negligence. All these services are subjected to NO-WIN-NO-FEES………

Our entire law firm is here to help you! We are a people-oriented firm and we take a personal interest in every client. This ensures that our team relates to each client on an individual basis and cares deeply about results. We do not see our clients as “cases”. Our goal is to be here to help people who have suffered as a result of the actions of medical professionals and obtain successful outcomes on their behalf.

A team of medical lawyers from our law firm focus on the task of representing plaintiffs who have been injured due to medical malpractice or due to a hospital error. Specifically, some tasks that medical lawyers may perform include:

Doing legal research for medical claims
Reviewing medical documents, files, and receipts in connection with a medical lawsuit
Advising legal clients on their rights during trial
Keeping evidence intact and preserved for trial (such as defective medicines or medical equipment)
Interpreting medical laws, standards, and guidelines in the area (they can often vary by region and by medical practice)

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