last week I spent a night in the ER (long story) and in the process got a ctscan where they found a lump someplace. Told me to talk to my doctor. Did and doctor sends me back to hospital for ultrasound.
Hospital hands me a screen thing that has 24 pages that I have to read and sign. And the deal is that no signature no ultrasound. The pages are in lawyerese and I am in no way qualified to evaluate how they may pertain to me.
My questions: Are these disclaimers actually functional? I was just doing what I was told… Isn’t this extortion?
Whether what you signed is enforceable is the type of question that gets a lot of attention in litigation. Some are, some are not. We don’t know enough about what you signed (and where you live) and the conditions of signing to give you an accurate answer.
Had you asked for a hard copy of the disclaimer so your attorney could look it over, would they have cooperated? Seems like an option, if you don’t want to sign blindly.
As I understand it, in the UK, a disclaimer form like that would be unenforceable on the ground that no reasonable person could be expected to read and understand it. Reasonableness is an important factor.
A contract between businesses may be highly complex but would be enforceable because they would have lawyers to interpret it. A contract shoved under your nose, just before a procedure would vane no validity.
Suppose you had said you couldn’t read and asked for it to be read out to you?
That would be nice. Any forms you’re going to be expected to sign they should mail you ahead of time. So, that might not work when you walk in off the street to a car dealership or ER. But a CTScan or surgery you made an appointment for days or weeks ahead, it would be helpful.
But I also have always wished that any long or ‘complicated’ forms should be required to come with a short explanation of what you’re signing, in layman’s terms. So, OP gets 24 pages of paperwork to sign, but there’s also a cover sheet that’s not legally binding, but says, for example, ‘you’ll have to pay the bill, you have to go through arbitration instead of/before suing us, it’s not our problem if you’re allergic to the contrast, not every person that will handle your case will necessarily be in your insurance network, we might sell your information and here’s how to opt out of some of that, etc etc etc’.
Something like that happened to my sister. She went in for a procedure. They had her sign one last piece of paper either after they gave her anesthesia* or so close to doing it that her memory of doing it was hazy, but she recalls being sorta pressured into it and it being something about a nurse. Turns out that what she singed allowed the operating doctor to have his own personal nurse in the OR with him as an ‘assistant’, though she did literally nothing but sit quietly in the corner. I believe the doctor justified it as ‘just in case’, but he was in a hospital, there’s nurses-a-plenty if he needs one. The problem was, this nurse, in that setting, was out of network and she got a $600 bill for it. When she (and my dad) questioned it, they explained that she okayed it. Eventually, I think they go the insurance to take care of it for the reason you stated. You can’t expect a 20 year hold kid to understand and sign something like this as they’re being wheeled off to surgery. You had plenty of time leading up to that point to give her this paperwork.
A local hospital system where I am doesn’t even show you the forms. They have an electronic signature device and most of the clerks just say “please sign, this is a consent” or something like it. Never seemed legit to me.
I thought I would check and see what the NHS has to say about consent:
Consent to treatment means a person must give permission before they receive any type of medical treatment, test or examination.
This must be done on the basis of an explanation by a clinician.
Consent from a patient is needed regardless of the procedure, whether it’s a physical examination, organ donation or something else.
For consent to be valid, it must be voluntary and informed, and the person consenting must have the capacity to make the decision.
Consent can be given:
verbally – for example, a person saying they’re happy to have an X-ray
in writing – for example, signing a consent form for surgery
Someone could also give non-verbal consent, as long as they understand the treatment or examination about to take place – for example, holding out an arm for a blood test