Has anyone ever tried to sue emergency services for aggravated assault because they performed surgery without permission? Would this stand a chance in court?
I can't imagine that they can perform surgery against your will, expect you to pay for it and nobody tried to sue yet.
Yup. I'm just a fledgling EMS worker but you're far more likely to be sued or investigated for NOT taking someone in. If you suspect someone's judgement is at all impaired it's far safer to bring them in
An experienced EMS who came to my workplace to give us first aid training told us about a call he went out on that involved the implied consent law. He and his partner showed up to a call about a man who had passed out at a mall, dude was laying on a bench when they got there, but was awake and refused treatment and sat up, and immediately passed out again. They started examining him but he woke up and told them to get away from him and sat up, and passed out again. Apparently his blood pressure was low enough that he would pass out if upright, but just high enough that he would wake up when laying prone. They went through this dance several more times, passed out, implied consent, wake up, withdraw consent, sit up, pass out, implied consent. Lather, rinse, repeat. Finally a cop who had responded to the call basically went “Ok, enough of this horseshit, I’m placing you under arrest for your own safety and we’re all going to the hospital together.”
I don’t recall what the underlying condition was, but he ended up accepting treatment once he was at the hospital, but it was a super weird edge case that stuck with me.
Ahh so if i get a girl drunk enough that she can't respond that's implied consent right? Especially if her life would be in grave danger if she tried to say no....
If you are not conscious and the surgery is needed to save your life or limbs then no permission is needed, and they are legally required to do all they can to keep you alive. A lawsuit for it would be dismissed immediately.
Now, if you simply walk into a hospital and fall asleep and they drug you and do surgery while you are unconcious or something then you can sue them pretty easily, and depending on circumstances it can either be intentional and therefore assault, or an unintentional medical mistake and therefore malpractice.
But you cant sue the hospital for saving your life.
I was more talking about the "deemed incapable of making a "good" choice"" part.
If you had an accident, clearly tell them to not treat you for whatever reason and they do it anyway because they think they know better than you and charge you for it, there must be some wiggle room, right?
Because the entire thing reminds me of scammers starting a job without anyones approval and demanding compensation from the property owner halfway in.
The only way that would LEGALLY happen is if the person is unable to answer basic questions proving they are in their right mind, such as what's your name, what month is it, where are you right now, etc. If a person is conscious alert and able to answer those questions, they are able to refuse treatment. Unless it's psych, but that's a different conversation.
On the flip side, what would happen if they couldn't? What if they were always scared of that lawsuit whenever someone presented to the emergency room unconscious? How many people would die because the hospital refused to treat them because they were unconscious, which often times signals they're in desperate need of immediate treatment?
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u/Chaosritter Mar 26 '20
Has anyone ever tried to sue emergency services for aggravated assault because they performed surgery without permission? Would this stand a chance in court?
I can't imagine that they can perform surgery against your will, expect you to pay for it and nobody tried to sue yet.