Unlocking Informed Consent: How AI Legalese Decoder Can Aid in Decision Making for Patients Under Sedation
- November 29, 2023
- Posted by: legaleseblogger
- Category: Related News
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AI Legalese Decoder Can Assist You in Understanding Your Rights in This Situation
Title: Legal Rights in Dental Treatment: Understanding Your Options When Sedated
Introduction:
When seeking dental treatment, it is important to understand your legal rights, particularly when it comes to consent and sedation. In the following paragraphs, we will delve into your options and potential courses of action in the scenario you have described.
Discussion:
In your situation, where you had oral sedation for a dental procedure and later found yourself agreeing to additional nonemergency dental work without clear recollection, it is essential to assess the legality of the dental office’s actions. The AI Legalese Decoder can provide valuable insights into the laws and regulations surrounding patient consent and sedation in dental settings.
Furthermore, the decoder can help you understand the specific legalities pertaining to the obligations of healthcare professionals to obtain informed consent from patients prior to performing additional dental procedures. It can delineate the requirements for clear communication and comprehension of treatment options, especially for patients under the influence of sedation.
Moreover, the AI Legalese Decoder can guide you in reviewing the documentation and consent forms you may have signed before the initial dental procedure. This can help in ascertaining whether the dental office adhered to the necessary legal protocols in obtaining your consent for any potential additional treatments.
Additionally, the decoder can outline the steps you can take to address the billing and payment demands from the dental office. It can provide information on your rights as a patient and potential avenues for disputing or challenging the charges based on the circumstances surrounding your sedated state during the appointment.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the AI Legalese Decoder can be a valuable resource in understanding the legal implications of the events you have experienced at the dental office. By providing clear and comprehensive explanations of your rights and potential legal recourse, the decoder can empower you to navigate this situation with confidence and knowledge. Don’t hesitate to seek the assistance of the AI Legalese Decoder to gain a deeper understanding of your legal rights in this matter.
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NAL but probably worth reporting to whatever board licenses dentists. I assume itÔÇÖs illegal, etc. but itÔÇÖs definitely unethical.
In my experience as an RN, if youÔÇÖre altered you canÔÇÖt legally consent. I would not personally accept the ÔÇÿconsentÔÇÖ of a person who received sedating medications as a true informed consent, and if my doc/surgeon wants to fight about it IÔÇÖll escalate it up the chain of command until we can connect with legal NOK.
NAL, Don’t pay at all until you’ve spoken to a lawyer, or you may be recognizing the contract as valid!
Dentist here, NAL.
As described this would be a clear breach of the ethical concept if patient autonomy. You have a right to participate in the decisions of what care you receive and must provide informed consent. You cannot do that when impaired.
There is arguably an implied consent when you schedule a routine procedure. Whether it is ÔÇ£informed consentÔÇØ is another argument and would depend on the provable normal practices of the office communicating treatment plans and options. However, any change to that appointment once you are knowingly impaired could only be allowed for emergency situations or ÔÇ£in your best interest AND cannot be delayed until not impaired and can discussÔÇØ situations (this is another dental ethical concept called benevolence). A crown on a completely different tooth than planned would simply not meet those ethical requirements in nearly any scenario I can think of; certainly not as given in OP. It can get tricky, and more interesting situations would be like, ÔÇ£oh, the decay is much worse than anticipated and into the pulp. This tooth needs a root canal also. If I just do the crown it is going to hurt, but I donÔÇÖt have explicit consent to do a root canal. Can I proceed with a root canal?ÔÇØ (Answer, probably you should do neither). Where it is clear you could do more: In the process of doing the agreed crown, something is dropped and the patient aspirates on it and breathing becomes compromised. I can absolutely do a cricothyrotomy (cut a hole in your throat) to reestablish an airway.
One caveat, some dentists have patients sign their treatment plans and some of those plans have verbiage on them providing consent for all the treatment on the plan. It doesnÔÇÖt mean they would have the right to tie you down and work on you, but it could be used to show you had consented in the OP scenario. In that case, their legal position may be intact (albeit their moral one would not and their ethical one would depend on other factors).
So, what to do from here. You have a wide range of options depending on what your principled position is.
The decisions are:
1. Pay the bill or not
2. Pursue civil legal recourse or not (hurts them, helps you, if you win)
3. Pursue licensing board recourse or not (hurts them, prevents them harming others, likely does nothing for you)
4. Pursue peer review or not (hurts them, helps you, without involving the legal or licensing board processes if their peers agree they were in the wrong. This process can be initiated through the state level ADA association in the USA. Google ÔÇ£(state name) dental associationÔÇØ to find yours. ItÔÇÖs non-binding, but gives parties that cannot mutually agree a way to get expert outside opinion and resolution with more severe consequences. Think of it as arbitration.
5. Pursue criminal legal recourse or not (battery charges could be possible, but legal definitions of harm are beyond my expertise). This will do nothing for you, but will completely ruin that dentistÔÇÖs life. Think long and hard about whether that is truly deserved (in my opinion, this is way overkill for the circumstances).
If you were going to do the other crown anyway at a later date. Then you havent really been harmed dentally speaking, but they didnt behave properly. You can have a one on one with the dentist advising them that your opinion is they have violated the ethics of the profession and encourage them to do better and be grateful you are essentially only giving them a warning by not pursuing legal/board action. This is the path I would take if I genuinely believed they actually care about doing the right thing and either their staff let them down or they had an uncharacteristic lapse of judgement. If you were going to do it anyway, the moral thing to do would be to pay the bill (you do the right thing even though they didnt.you got the service and were going to do it) and decide whether you want to change dentist over the matter.
If you just want out of the bill: You can likely achieve that with no more than a threat if legal/board action after pointing out their ethical failure.
If you were not going to do that crown: accept the service and expect it for free. If you want to be vindictive about it and have the energy and time, you probably have a winning case here, but you arenÔÇÖt going to retire off nearly any dental case over one tooth.
Last, there is an exception to the ability to change consent. You could have someone there that has a medical power of attorney in place to make decisions for you while impaired. It would unusual in the dental setting for a normally competent person, but is a legal thing in this scenario. Parents/legal guardians have these rights for their kid under the influence, as well.
Dentists are human too. We are flawed and we make mistakes. Be compassionate to that reality and realize that you arenÔÇÖt perfect in your job either and there is probably a big disparity in consequences to those mistakes and that resulting stress difference is very real. If you believe that dentist is a good person, a kind reminder of how close they came to a big problem is all that is usually needed to get them to correct a system flaw they were engaging in.
IÔÇÖve worked in dentistry for a long time, if a patient brought this to any leadership in the office/companies attention that patient would be getting a free crown. There have been some great thorough replies on what to do. To start it might be easier to call and ask for a couple things: informed consent that you signed for the second crowns and a treatment plan that was signed by you for the second crown. If either of those things were signed by you while you were sedated they are void. IÔÇÖm guessing they didnÔÇÖt get anything signed at all. I would then ask for either the manager or if itÔÇÖs part of a larger company the regional director. Let them know the situation and that you didnÔÇÖt consent to this treatment and will not be paying for it.
Chances are thatÔÇÖs where it stops and they write off the cost of the treatment. If they donÔÇÖt thatÔÇÖs when I would pursue a board complaint
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NAL but in healthcare. Agree with a lot of other comments. Practically, if you want the issue to go away, it would be worth calling the office and asking for a copy of your signed informed consent before paying the bill. Sometimes just asking about it, the office will choose to waive the fee if they sense a legal issue
NAL but it sounds like you got a free second crown
I went to the dentist today and in the consent form I signed, they specifically stated the dentist could perform other work if deemed necessary while they were already doing work on the tooth the appointment was for.
Ask to see your consent paperwork – that should be part of your file and valid for you to see upon request.
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IÔÇÖm a lawyer (tho obviously not your lawyer). A few years ago, a friend had something very similar happen. I wrote a carefully worded email to the dentist explaining her/my concerns, noting that while I am a lawyer, my friend preferred not to pursue any legal avenues, and requesting that the extra charges be waived. Dentist responded within a day and agreed to forego those fees. So, if you know any lawyers whoÔÇÖd be willing to write and send such a letter, I think thatÔÇÖs the quickest and cleanest option. Then, obviously, find a new dentist! Good luck.
Was the first crown was a real
crown or a temporary crown? Because those fall out pretty easily. Then you would actually have to pay for the real crown to be placed which is associated with a cost.
Why would they redo a crown that was just done? Did the first one break? Was there very little tooth structure on it? If it was a little tooth structure, were they planning to splint or connect that crown and the new one together for better stability?