Doctors are required to incorporate informed consent into every single job because there’s never really a guarantee that a medical treatment or procedure will go quite the way planned. This concept is based on the idea that there’s always going to be some risk of harm resulting from the work being done. The physician explains the decision they’re contemplating and the potential effects of it, and then the patient can make an informed decision of whether it’s worth the danger. Patients then sign formal documents, stating that they understand what could happen.

The law does not require that a physician warns a client of every possible consequence of a procedure. However, Illinois law does require that they explain every predictable consequence, as well as any alternative options for care. The state says that one cannot successfully get their doctor punished for medical malpractice unless there is sufficient evidence that they were never given enough reason to consider declining the suggested service.

For situations of more urgent care, like emergency room surgery, doctors are usually exempt from accountability regardless of the patient’s response to their suggestions. When some medical work has to be done quickly, it’s just too big a time-eater to discuss what might go wrong; often times it’s a true “do or die” situation. If the action discussed ends up being different than the one actually done, and the physician included warnings in the talk, the patient usually can sue. If the physician finds an unexpected issue during the service, any harm following the work may go by unpunished; permission for a “plan B” or “new step” is not considered necessary.

Spinal cord injuries in America are a serious issue many people deal with on a regular basis. Approximately 276,000 Americans are suffering permanent consequences of spinal cord injury (SCI), 45 percent of which are numb everywhere below the body area. About half of all sufferers have no functional or intact limbs. This is a rapidly growing epidemic, with 12,500 new cases per year and individual wage losses of 136 percent of the average person’s income.

Perhaps the most disturbing fact about this epidemic is how it usually happens. About 13 in 20 SCI sufferers get into their incidents simply going about normal travel, on foot or by vehicle. So most of the time, it’s not intense physical activity that puts someone into this kind of situation. They don’t have to do much to get injured; someone else or something unusual leads them to it. The most common victims are, apparently, the most innocent.

Chicago is among 14 U.S. cities currently receiving federal grants to do investigative research of SCI so doctors everywhere can discover more details about how the spine functions along with the bodily substances and everything around it. The facilities in this research program also do extensive work directly with local SCI patients to guide them through recovery (if possible), planning for future physical navigation, and acknowledging how the condition can make it extremely complicated for someone to provide and care for themselves.

It’s not just physically complicating though; it can be a huge financial burden, depending on the severity of one’s injury. You could sue, but you want to be sure it’s their fault; intense movement or unhealthy habits you did leading up to the incident could work against you. It may not be just or adequate for an argument, but there’s a good chance the defendant will justify their claim of innocence by stating you did something to maximize the probability of your own pain.

Medical negligence is the third-most common cause of death in America, with approximately 400,000 deaths annually, according to recent research. Doctors have gotten into trouble countless times for various reasons including: prescribing inadequate and/or excessive amounts of medicine, giving out the wrong type of medicine, operating on the wrong body part, failing to clean the area after realizing they’ve made a mistake, not properly observing heart rates while performing operations, and numerous other harmful mistakes.

Law firms in Chicago have helped collect hundreds of millions of dollars per year to compensate clients who have suffered this horror, indicating that physicians can be significantly penalized for it. Unfortunately, more often than not, it isn’t quite enough to suggest—even with thorough evidence—that your doctor swapped something, got something mixed up, or didn’t tell you what you needed to know. The court needs to see sufficient evidence that the doctor didn’t conduct themselves in an adequately professional manner, or that they did not go about a standard routine for examining or treating you according to your physical nature. Essentially, you must be able to prove that they seriously deviated from the normal or proper process of attending to a patient.

Your doctor may get real close to the bull’s eye each time, but there’s never a guarantee that they’ll get it perfectly right. In general, slight failure is not illegal. However, it is illegal for a doctor to do their work in such an unorthodox way that it can result in misinformation or increased physical problems for the patient.