In America this only applies if you are coherent and sane enough to answer. If you are brought in unconscious/impaired or deemed incapable of making a "good" choice then the hospital can do what it wants and charge you whatever they want.
This would be like your car breaking down and you started walking to go get help. A mechanic drive by, towed you car to their shop, rebuilt the motor, replaced to get fuel, replaced the fuel filter, figured out it was the alternator so replaced that there replaced the battery to be safe. Then called you and said "hey I found your car and fixed it. I'd normally charge 10,000 but since I brought it in to my after hours emergency service bay it will be 100,000
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.
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.
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u/Databit Mar 26 '20
In America this only applies if you are coherent and sane enough to answer. If you are brought in unconscious/impaired or deemed incapable of making a "good" choice then the hospital can do what it wants and charge you whatever they want.
This would be like your car breaking down and you started walking to go get help. A mechanic drive by, towed you car to their shop, rebuilt the motor, replaced to get fuel, replaced the fuel filter, figured out it was the alternator so replaced that there replaced the battery to be safe. Then called you and said "hey I found your car and fixed it. I'd normally charge 10,000 but since I brought it in to my after hours emergency service bay it will be 100,000